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DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


popular Stories. 

By AMY BROOKS. 

Each beautifully illustrated by the Author. 

THE RANDY BOOKS. 

i2mo. Cloth. Striking Cover Designs by the Author. Price $1.00. 

RANDY’S SUMMER. 

RANDY’S WINTER. 

RANDY AND HER FRIENDS. 

RANDY AND PRUE. 

RANDY’S GOOD TIMES. 

RANDY’S LUCK. 

RANDY’S LOYALTY. 

RANDY’S PRINCE. 


jfor U?ounger iReabers. 

DOROTHY DAINTY SERIES. 

Large i2mo. Cloth. Cover Designs by the Author. Set in large 
English type. Price $1.00. 

DOROTHY DAINTY. 

DOROTHY’S PLAYMATES. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT SCHOOL. 
DOROTHY DAINTY AT THE SHORE. 
DOROTHY DAINTY IN THE CITY. 
DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME. 


A JOLLY CAT TALE. Large i 2 mo. Cloth. 

Profusely Illustrated. Price . . . $1.00 









■M’S* 


Amy^roaks. 


The little procession was crossing- the lawn . — Page 14 


DOROTHY DAINTY 
AT HOME 


BY 


AMY BROOKS 

- \ 

AUTHOR OF “ DOROTHY DAINTY SERIES,” “ THE RANDY BOOKS,” 
AND ** A JOLLY CAT TALE ” 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR 




BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 


0 7 - 1559 ® 


LIBRARY of CONGRESS 


Two Copies Received 

APK 18 1807 



T - 

-pk 7 <K 

. O L ' 


Published, August, 1907. 


Copyright, 1907, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 


All Bights Beserved. 


Dorothy Dainty at Home. 



NorfcsootJ IBress 
Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U. S. A 




CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. Through the Forest 

. 

• 

• 

• 

. 

PAGE 

1 

II. 

Romeo 






23 

III. 

A New Neighbor . 

. 

• 

• 

• 


42 

IV. 

A Day of Surprises 

. 

. 

• 

• 


63 

V. 

Mandy and Chub . 

. 

. 

• 

• 


85 

VI. 

One Hundred Dollars 

Reward 

• 

• 


104 

VII. 

Vera’s Prank . 

. 

. 

• 

• 


125 

VIII. 

Where They Found Her 

. 

• 

• 


145 

IX. 

A Trip to the Shore 

. 

* 

• 

• 


165 

X. 

With the Tide 

. 

. 

• 

• 


184 

XI. 

Arabella 

• 

• 

• 

• 


202 

XII. 

Nancy’s Bravery . 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

219 


Dorothy Dainty at Home 


iii 










ILLUSTRATIONS 


The little procession was crossing the lawn ( Page 14) 

Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Dorothy drew Nancy into the cushioned window ... 65 

Chub found it a task to make his dumpy legs keep pace 

with Handy’s long strides 98/ 

From behind the bushes Dorothy and Nancy saw Vera 

offer her hand to the girl 136 

“ One, two, three ! ” They were off like the wind . . 178 

She extended her hands as if inviting the merry fountain 

to join her in a dance 206 



DOROTHY DAINTY AT 
HOME 


CHAPTER I 

THROUGH THE FOREST 

mHE gardens at the great stone house 
were ablaze with color. The clamber- 
ing rose-vines wreathed porch and balcony, 
and the tall, flowering shrubs were pink 
and white with blossoms. Down by the 
pond the fleur-de-lis poured forth its fra- 
grance, and the fountain sent upward 
sprays of soft mists which caught the sun- 
beam’s kiss, then from sheer joy fell back 
into the pool, a shower of sparkling drops. 

The tall trees cast cool, swaying shad- 


2 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

ows, and from the sheltering branches 
came sweetest music in liquid notes which 
were echoed by other tiny songsters. 

All through the early morning the gay 
laughter and merry chatter of children’s 
voices had made yet sweeter music, but 
now the little playmates sat upon the lawn 
or stood in little groups trying to decide 
what the next game should be. 

“ What shall we play, what could we 
play that we haven’t played before? ” said 
Molly Merton. 

“ Yes, that’s it; let’s think of some 
game that we haven’t ever played, be- 
cause that will please Molly,” urged Flos- 
sie Barnet, who was Molly’s staunch ad- 
mirer. 

Flossie had a sweet disposition, and 
whatever would give pleasure to playmate 
or friend was sure to make her happy. 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


3 


There were other girls and two boys 
in the group, but they offered no sugges- 
tion; they could not think of any game 
which they had not played many times. 

There were Nina and Jeanette Earl, 
Molly Merton and Flossie Barnet, Russell 
and Aline Dalton, who were spending the 
day at the stone house with their cousin 
Dorothy Dainty, whose home it was; Katy 
Dean, another little neighbor, and her 
cousin Lester, while upon a garden-seat 
sat Dorothy Dainty with Nancy Ferris, her 
dearest friend. 

“I do wish I could think of some fine 
game which would be new; can’t you 
think, Nancy? ” Dorothy asked. 

“ I have thought this very minute! ” 
Nancy said, springing to her feet in the 
greatest excitement. “ I wonder why I 
didn’t think of it before.” 


4 


DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“What is it?” “Tell us about it!” 
“ How do you play it? ” questioned the 
eager children. 

“ Mrs. Dainty told us a lovely story last 
evening,” Nancy said, “ and we who heard 
it couldn’t help remembering it. Now you 
tell the others, Dorothy, as your mamma 
told it to us, so we’ll all know it, and then 
I’ll tell you how we’ll play it.” 

“ It wasn’t exactly a story,” Dorothy 
said, “ but mamma was telling us about 
the figures on the frieze in our dining- 
room, and we asked her about their cos- 
tumes, and why all the figures, both men 
and women, were carrying something in 
their hands.” 

“ And Mrs. Dainty said it represented 
a Greek festival, and some are carrying 
fruit and others have flowers,” said Nancy. 

“ And the men and a few of the women 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


5 


wear skins for clothes, and others have 
very long draperies/ ’ Dorothy continued. 

“ And others are playing on pipes, and 
one girl has a tambourine/ ’ said Aline. 
“ I remember her, she’s such a pretty 
figure.” 

Nancy’s dark eyes were bright with ex- 
citement. 

“ We’ll play we’re Greeks,” she said, 
“ and we’ll dress up and have a festival 
of our own. We’ll have a procession! 
Come, come! ” 

Nancy’s excitement made the others 
wild to follow where she led, but, as they 
hastened after her, they plied her with 
questions. 

“ Where’ll we get the furs to wear? ” 

“ And the pipes to play on? ” 

“ And the fine draperies? ” 

“ Somebody must carry a tambourine! ” 


DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ One fellow in that dining-room frieze 
has a long stick with a lot of fruit tied 
to it; ” this last remark from Dorothy’s 
cousin Russell. 

Nancy ran until she had reached a little 
grove near the fountain, where in the cool 
shade she sat down to tell her plans. 
Eagerly they listened, as in little groups 
they gathered around her. 

“ Now, first of all, there’s the fur rugs 
out on the lawn, where the maid left them 
to air, if Mrs. Dainty will let us — ” 

“ Oh, she will, I know she will let us 
borrow them,” said Dorothy, “ and the 
boys will look fine with them flung over 
their shoulders.” 

“ And there’s a tambourine in the 
music-room,” continued Nancy. 

“I’ll carry that,” cried Aline. 

“ And I’ll be the chap with the stick 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


7 


over his shoulder, and the fruit hanging 
from it. I’ll get the gardener to help me 
fix it,” said Russell. 

“ I can be the fellow with the pipes. 
Two small sticks would look like those 
reeds he’s playing on,” Lester said. 

“ And the rest of us will dance along 
just to look jolly, and help to make a fine 
procession,” Molly Merton declared, to 
which, as usual, Flossie Barnet agreed. 

As eagerly as they had hurried toward 
the grove, they now rushed to the house, 
and Mrs. Dainty laughed merrily as she 
stood upon the piazza trying to understand 
what the little group before her was say- 
ing. 

“ One at a time, please,” she said, smil- 
ing at their eager faces, “ for I hear cries 
of ‘ festival,’ 4 fruit,’ 4 furs,’ 6 tambourine,’ 


8 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

‘ pipes/ and ‘ drapery/ but I cannot imag- 
ine what it all means/’ 

So Dorothy, with Nancy’s assistance, 
told how the story of the frieze had sug- 
gested a fine game, and they now wished 
to borrow articles with which to array 
themselves like the Greek youths and 
maidens. 

“ You shall have the fur rugs and, in- 
deed, any other things which will help 
you to look like the nymphs and swains. 
The maid will carry the rugs to the grove, 
and I will see that John helps you. He 
can cut a stick or staff for Russell, and 
hang some grape-leaves and clusters of 
green fruit upon it. I’ll get the tambou- 
rine now for you, Aline, and I think that 
there is an old flageolet in the music-room 
which some one can call an ancient pipe.” 

“ Oh, mamma, I knew you’d help us to 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


9 


play it, it’s such a lovely game,” Dorothy 
said. 

Aunt Charlotte Grayson, who had been 
an interested listener, now came forward 
and joined Mrs. Dainty. 

“ I think I have something to offer the 
little Greek nymphs,” she said. “ In the 
storeroom at the stone cottage there is 
some old mosquito-netting, a number of 
yards of pink and white. If you will run 
down to the cottage to get it, Nancy, it 
will, I think, make some floating draper- 
ies.” 

“ The very thing to make us look fine,” 
said Nancy, and she ran at once to the cot- 
tage, returning soon after with the bundle 
of bright-hued netting. 

“ I think it will make the pageant more 
beautiful if you carry flowers as well as 
fruit,” said Mrs. Dainty. “ The girls can 


10 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


wear wreaths of blossoms, and a staff may 
be hung with flowers as well as fruit. 
Now when you are arrayed in your furs, 
your gauze, and your flowers, march down 
across the lawn and let us see you. We 
shall be in the sitting-room, but at the 
sound of your pipes and tambourine, Aunt 
Charlotte and I will surely come out here 
to see the brave Greek youths and lovely 
maidens as they pass.’ ’ 

“ We’ll come, we’ll come where you 
shall see us! ” they cried as they hurried 
away. 

It was a task to get the little company 
properly costumed. Katy Dean preferred 
pink netting, as did Molly Merton and 
Flossie Barnet, but when Nancy had 
draped herself in pink, there was quite 
enough left for two girls, but not enough 
for three. It might have been unpleasant, 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


11 


but Flossie Barnet, always sweet-tem- 
pered, always willing to yield, decided to 
wear white netting, that Molly and Katy 
might have the pink which they preferred. 

Russell and Lester were delighted that 
the fur rugs were for their own adornment. 
They thought the furs more manly than 
the gauzy draperies. There were four 
rugs, however, and but two boys to wear 
them. 

“ What’ll we do with these two rugs? ” 
Russell asked. 

“ We’ll wear them,” said Nina. 
“ There are two girls in the frieze that 
have fur mantles, so Jeanette and I will 
wear them.” 

John proved a valuable helper. He 
knew the best way to securely fasten the 
fur rugs so as to resemble the soft skins 
which draped the charming Greek youths; 


12 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


he fashioned a pipe from a bit of cane; 
he made a slender staff to which he tied a 
cluster of bright blossoms. But even with 
his generous aid, the boys were a long 
time preparing for the procession* indeed 
the girls teased them because they were so 
fussy. Russell was eager to tie the clus- 
ters of green grapes and their leaves so 
that they should hang gracefully, while 
Lester was sure that his furs were not 
arranged becomingly. 

The girls were quite as particular, and 
the maid was kept busy arranging drapery, 
weaving wreaths, and tying ribbons. How 
they laughed and chattered, and how the 
moments flew! 

At last they were ready, and with pride 
the maid stood beside the gardener watch- 
ing them, as they made their way through 
the shady grove toward the lawn. 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


13 


“ Oh, the dears! It’s a pleasure ter do 
anything at all for them! ” said the maid. 

“ That it is ! ’ ? John replied. 66 Their 
chattering makes the place cheerful, but 
I tell y^, Miss Dorothy’s the sunshine o’ 
the house.” 

“ An’ who loves her truer than Miss 
Nancy? ” said the maid. 

“ ’Twas a fine thing when the mistress 
took her in, the little waif,” the gardener 
replied. 

The maid looked up into the man’s hon- 
est face to learn if he were joking. “ Truth 
that I am saying,” he said. “ Bein’ a 
newcomer here, ye’re not knowin’ that 
Nancy Ferris was left ter shift fer herself; 
yes, fer herself, because her stepmother, 
the good-fer-nothin’ woman, hadn’t no 
int’rest in her. Then, just when we’d all 
learnt ter love her here, a ole uncle o’ hern 


14 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


stole her an’ made her earn his livin' fer 
him a-dancin' on the stage." 

“ What kind o' folks were they ter treat 
a child like that? " said the maid. 

“ 'Bout as mean folks as there is," the 
gardener said. “ Oh, it's er long story 
an' full er int'rest. The cook'll tell yer 
all 'bout it some day ef ye ask her." 

He went back to the garden-bed which 
he had been weeding, and the maid re- 
turned to the house, resolved to question 
the cook regarding Nancy Ferris, in whom 
she already felt a friendly interest. 

While the young maid stood beside John, 
talking of Dorothy and Nancy, the little 
procession was crossing the lawn, with soft 
draperies fluttering in the breeze, and the 
merry voices of the mimic nymphs and 
swains mingling with the tinkle of tam- 
bourine, the trilling of the pipes. 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


15 


Oh, the beauty of the scene! 

The sunlight, the shadows, the bright 
draperies, the laughing faces, the dancing 
feet! 

They were singing a song which they 
had learned at Aunt Charlotte’s private 
school, a song which Dorothy always loved 
to sing: 

“ Youths and maidens to the fields are hieing, 

And in wreaths the fragrant flowers tying.” 

The tambourine marked the time with 
the clashing of its brazen bells, while the 
boys merrily whistled the pretty air. The 
winding path led them through another 
little grove, which they always called the 
“ forest ” because that sounded grander, 
then across a wide terrace and down some 
stone steps, then farther on across a bab- 
bling brook and up over rising land to the 


16 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


broad lawn. Their music had heralded 
their coming, and as they passed the house, 
Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte stood 
upon the piazza waving their handker- 
chiefs and smiling with pleasure at the 
pretty sight. 

The gardener had planned a surprise for 
them. He had been busily weeding the 
garden when a bright idea made him drop 
his tools and hurry around to the servants’ 
quarters. He told them of the little pro- 
cession, and urged them to drop their work 
for a few moments and await its com- 
ing. 

“ It’ll please Miss Dorothy an’ all of 
’em ter see ye lookin’ at ’em, an’ they do 
look fine, I tell ye, so do ye all stand out 
where ye kin git a good look at ’em, an’ 
do ye give three rousin’ cheers as they 
pass.” 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


17 


“ That we will! ” they cried as with one 
voice. 

The cook removed her big apron, the 
pompous butler peeped into a tiny mirror 
to see if his collar were straight, the maid 
dropped her duster, while Mrs. Dainty’s 
own maid walked shyly beside the young 
groom, leaving the coachman and footman 
to escort the others. Out on the lawn they 
filed, and, as the children marched before 
the piazza and turned to pass around the 
house, three lusty cheers rang out. 

“ Oh, the darlings! I’d not miss that 
beautiful sight for forty pies like I was 
makin’ when ye called me ter drop my 
work an’ come out,” said the cook. 

“ I never see anything finer ’n that on 
the stage, an’ me a maid in the city an’ 
always a-seein’ vaudy-veel whenever I had 
a afternoon off.” 


18 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ Well, we all lived in the city last win- 
ter, lass,” the butler replied, “ but I’ll tell 
ye one thing: summer er winter, city er 
country, this family is the best in the 
world ter serve.” 

The servants returned to their tasks, 
while the children, following the path 
which led around the house, came out into 
the sunlight, which made the fountain 
sparkle and caused every bright flower to 
blaze with warmth and color. Around the 
pond they marched, again through the 
“ forest,” where the cool shade was de- 
lightful, in and out between the clumps of 
flowering shrubbery, until they were glad 
to sit down to rest and regain their breath. 
They took turns telling stories, the boys 
trying to outdo each other in relating 
thrilling tales of adventure which they had 
read. Harold owned many fine books 


THROUGH THE FOREST 19 

which told of life on the plains, while 
Lester loved the stories of hunting and 
fishing which he had eagerly read. 

The girls listened with delight to the 
wild tales of adventure. It felt so nice 
and safe to be sitting in the beautiful gar- 
den, around which stood the great stone 
wall, while the gardener, the coachman, 
and the groom were so near that they 
could hear the least outcry. 

“ Tell us another story/ ’ urged Doro- 
thy. 

“ I’ll tell you what to do,” Nancy said. 
“ Just make up a hunting story, and see 
how well you can tell it. You begin it, 
Harold, and then Lester can go on with it, 
and see if you two boys can tell a story 
big enough to scare us.” 

“ Jolly fun! ” exclaimed Harold. “ So 
here goes. The name of the story will be 


20 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


— le’ me see. Oh, now I’ve got it. The 
name of the story is — 

“ ‘ The Great Hunter of the Green For- 
est.’ 

“ Once there was a hunter so tall you 
had to look straight up in the air to see 
his face, and he was as big around as the 
biggest tree that ever grew. He always 
wore a green suit, so that when he was in 
the woods the bears that he was after 
couldn’t tell him at a distance from a 
tree. 

“ Well, one day this hunter started out 
for a day’s sport, and when he reached the 
forest the first thing he saw was bear- 
tracks all along the path! 

“ Now you go on, Lester,” Harold said, 
as he threw himself back upon the grass. 

“ All right,” agreed Lester, “ here’s the 
next thing: The moment the hunter saw 


THROUGH THE FOREST 


21 


the bear-tracks, he strode into the forest, 
for he meant to show the bear that there 
was one hunter who wasn’t easily scared. 
He went striding along, tramping down 
the bushes and weeds that were in his way, 
when all at once he came to an open place 
and — there was the bear a-waiting for 
him! ” 

Of course the girls screamed when Les- 
ter shouted these words, and just at this 
exciting point the maid appeared to sum- 
mon them to lunch. Russell and Aline 
were to leave just after lunch for the train 
which would take them to their home. 
Russell promised to finish the tale when 
he should again visit Dorothy. 

“ I wish you could tell us how it came 
out,” said Dorothy. 

Russell laughed. 


22 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ I don’t know how to tell it now,” he 
said, “ but I’ll have time to think about it, 
and I’ll tell you all about it the next time 
I’m at the stone house.” 


CHAPTER II 

ROMEO 

nnHEY were sitting upon an old stone 
garden-seat, and they had been talk- 
ing very gaily until Dorothy spoke of her 
absent pets. 

“ To think,” she said, “ that Bijou 
should have run away so far that no one 
could find him. He was such a dear little 
dog that I can’t bear to think what may 
have happened to him. The gardener said 
that he disappeared about a week after we 
left here to spend the winter in the city. 
Oh, do you suppose that he tried to follow 
us, and could not find his way? ” 

There were tears in her sweet eyes, and 

23 


24 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Nancy longed to comfort her. She drew 
Dorothy closer and looked into her lovely 
face. 

“ Try to think that perhaps some one 
found him who loves him, and that he may 
be living in a good home,” she said, and, 
although it was only a hope which Nancy 
expressed, it cheered Dorothy, and she 
smiled through her tears. 

u You see it was different when my goat 
went away. I loved Corny, and it seemed 
hard to part with him.” 

“ But you didn’t lose him,” said Nancy; 
“ you sent him away.” 

“ Yes, that made the difference,” Doro- 
thy replied. “ I had grown so large that 
I could not enjoy riding in the little car- 
riage, and papa said that I might give it 
to some one who would find pleasure in 
owning the little goat-team. I cried when 


ROMEO 


25 


Corny went, but I sent it to my little 
cousin, the one who was named for 
mamma.” 

“ She wrote you a lovely letter, telling 
you how pleased and happy she was,” 
Nancy said. “ I remember the letter, be- 
cause you read it to me.” 

“ I have you always to play with,” said 
Doiothy, as she leaned lovingly toward 
Nancy, “ but I do miss my pets.” 

The sound of merry voices made Doro- 
thy’s eyes brighten as she turned to greet 
Molly and Flossie, who were running up 
the walk. She forgot to grieve for her 
pets, for the morning was spent in playing 
games, and Nancy was delighted to see 
that Dorothy was again her bright, happy 
self. 

A week had passed when again they sat 
upon the stone seat, and it happened that 


26 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Dorothy was thinking of the goat-team 
which she had once enjoyed. 

“ Do you remember, Nancy, how quickly 
Corny would come when I called him? ” 
she said. 

Nancy was about to reply, when a slight 
sound made her turn toward the gateway. 

“ Oh, look, look! ” she cried, and for 
an instant Dorothy did look, then she ran 
forward to greet the newcomer, who, with 
grace and dignity, was walking up the 
driveway as confidently as if he knew of 
the sweet welcome which awaited him. 

“ A pony! A pony! Oh, I know it is 
for me,” cried Dorothy, and she ran to the 
pretty creature, who paused as if waiting 
for a caress. 

“ Oh, Nancy, see what a beautiful face 
he has! Wouldn’t any one know that he 
was gentle to look at him? ” said Dorothy. 


ROMEO 


27 


“ And the carriage! ” cried Nancy, “ it’s 
exactly like your mamma’s phaeton, only 
smaller, to match the pony.” 

“ How did papa send him, for of course 
it is papa’s gift, and who guided him 
to our garden and started him up the 
walk? ” 

In answer a merry chuckle came from 
behind the shrubbery, and Jimmy emerged, 
lifting his cap to the girls in his best man- 

f 

ner. 

“ Why, Jimmy Harkins! ” Nancy ex- 
claimed, “ do you know where this lovely 
pony came from? ” 

“I sh’d say I did! ” Jimmy replied, 
“ fer Mr. Dainty sent him out by me. 
Wa’n’t I proud ter be chose from all the 
men in his office? I promised ter bring 
him out from the city safely ter Miss Doro- 
thy, and ter start him up the driveway 


28 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

as if he’d come ’thout anybody with him. 
I hid behind the bushes jest ter see her 
look s ’prised.” 

“ And what a fine surprise it was,” 
Dorothy said, “ and I know why papa sent 
him by you, Jimmy. He told mamma this 
morning that of all the people in his office, 
there was not one whom he could more 
surely trust than Jimmy Harkins.” 

“ Did he say that? ” the boy eagerly 
asked. 

“ Indeed he did,” Dorothy replied. 

“ I heard him say it,” agreed Nancy. 

“ Well, he may trust me, fer I’ll always 
be faithful. Didn’t he give me the chance 
ter work fer him, an’ him er gentleman, 
’stead er that ol’ place I had at the the- 
atre, where I had ter work hard fer er 
little money an’ heaps er scoldin’? ” 

It was evident that Jimmy worshipped 


ROMEO 


29 


his employer, and that he was working 
diligently to win his regard. 

“I’ll have ter hurry back ter the office/ ’ 
Jimmy said, “ an’ I’ve some other errands 
ter do. Here’s er note fer Mrs. Dainty.” 

“ There’s the maid; you could give it to 
her,” Nancy said. 

“ That wouldn’t do,” said Jimmy, 
stoutly, “ fer he said, 6 Give this ter Mrs. 
Dainty,’ an’ I won’t leave till I see it in 
her hands.” 

Jimmy felt that Mr. Dainty was honor- 
ing him by entrusting important errands 
to his care, and he was determined to 
merit his employer’s regard. He believed 
that in all the world there was no one 
so generous, so handsome, so brave, so 
courteous as Mr. Dainty, and he had re- 
solved to become just such a brave and 
gallant gentleman. 


30 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Of course the pony was duly admired by 
Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte, who were 
in the secret and had been eagerly await- 
ing his arrival that they might see Doro- 
thy’s surprise. 

Oh, the delightful drives which Dorothy 
and Nancy enjoyed, going far out into the 
country over roads which lay between 
sunny fields and meadows, or through little 
lanes which were bordered with wild flow- 
ers! Sometimes a cow looked over a rail 
fence to stare with mild wonder at the 
pony and his lovely little mistress, or a 
flock of sheep came down to the bars to 
learn if the charming occupants of the car- 
riage were bringing a treat for them. 

Whenever they sallied forth for a long 
drive, or when Dorothy sprang into the 
saddle for a brisk canter, a groom rode 
at a respectful distance behind them to 


ROMEO 


31 


protect them if the road chanced to be 
lonely. 

Nancy was always eager to ride in the 
luxurious carriage, but she was delighted 
with anything which gave pleasure to 
Dorothy, and whenever the pony was 
brought around to the door with his hand- 
some saddle in place, she seemed as gay 
as if she were about to spring into it and 
gallop away. 

She would wait while the groom assisted 
Dorothy to mount, and then she would 
watch the graceful figure as long as it was 
in sight, waving her hand to Dorothy, who 
always turned in the saddle to return the 
salute. 

What a difficult task it was to find a 
suitable name for the pony! “ It would 
be hard to choose a name for an ordinary 
pet/’ Nancy said, “ but this pony is such 


32 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

a beauty that we cannot think of any name 
that seems fine enough for him.” 

Aunt Charlotte smiled as she looked at 
the eager face. The eyes were as serious 
as if an affair of state were under con- 
sideration, and indeed it did seem as if 
proper deference were not given the pony 
that he should be “ a member of the fam- 
ily,” as Dorothy said, “ and yet have no 
name.” 

Countless names had been suggested, but 
to each Dorothy shook her head. “ They 
are not fine enough,” she said. 

Mrs. Dainty’s beautiful span boasted 
fine names. One was called “ Comet ” and 
the other “ Star,” so some one suggested 
“ Meteor,” but Dorothy did not like that. 

“ Dash,” “ Lightfoot,” “ Whisk ” were 
alike refused. Jimmy had thought “ Lime- 
light ” would be a showy name. He had » 


ROMEO 


33 


seen the picture of a circus horse who bore 
that name, but neither of these pleased 
Dorothy. 

“ How would you like to call him “ Pyg- 
malion? ” Mr. Dainty had asked. 

Dorothy hesitated. 

“ That sounds rather grand/ * she said, 
“ but I don’t quite like it.” 

Mrs. Barnet was a member of a club 
which had been organized for social enjoy- 
ment, and one evening a dramatic enter- 
tainment was arranged in which Mrs. 
Barnet appeared as “ Juliet ” and her 
brother as “ Romeo.” Flossie was sure 
that they were the handsomest couple who 
had ever appeared upon any stage, and 
her glowing account of the costumes worn 
by them delighted her playmates. 

“ Mamma was a lovely ‘ Juliet/ and 


34 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Uncle Harry was a handsome ‘ Romeo/ ” 
she said. 

“ That is the very name for my pony! ” 
Dorothy declared. 44 Romeo! Why didn’t 
I think of that name when I’ve been try- 
ing so hard to find one which would sound 
fine enough for him? He roams every- 
where with me, and the name just suits 
him. ’ 9 

Mr. Dainty was amused. He explained 
that the name was not spelled like the 
word 4 4 roam,” but Dorothy cared nothing 
for that. The name had caught her fancy, 
and 44 Romeo ” he should be. 

One sunny morning Dorothy sprang into 
the saddle and started the pony at a brisk 
pace. It was very early, yet Romeo was 
already saddled. 

She had intended to ride soon after 
breakfast, and, knowing this, the groom 


ROMEO 


35 


had made the pony ready that he might 
promptly lead him up to the house. Then 
he had sauntered to the other end of the 
garden to talk with John, and Romeo, 
thinking that his little mistress might al- 
ready be waiting with his usual treat of 
sugar, walked up to the stepping-stone 
where he looked for her to appear. 

She saw him, and forgetting that she 
was never to ride without the groom, ran 
out to the block and attempted to mount. 
Finding that impossible, she led the pony 
up to the piazza railing, and from there 
managed to place herself in the saddle. 
No one had seen her. What a joke it 
would be to take her ride before break- 
fast! How surprised they would be to 
find that she could mount without the aid 
of the groom! It did not for a moment 
occur to Dorothy that they would be anx- 


36 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


ious, and as she rode out from under the 
leafy branches of the trees, the sunlight 
and the fresh breeze filled her with delight, 
and she sang as she rode along. 

The distant hills were blue in the warm 
sunlight, and the sound of the pony’s hoofs 
rang out and was repeated by the echo. 
Somewhere a childish voice was singing 
a familiar air, and Dorothy softly hummed 
the cheery song. She saw beyond a field 
of wild flowers. She would ride nearer 
that she might see their beauty, then she 
would turn about and let Borneo canter 
home. The breeze played with her bright 
hair and kissed her cheek until she smiled 
with pleasure, and the field beyond 
gleamed in the sunlight. 

And while the pony was carrying his 
lovely rider farther and farther from home, 
Nancy, half-wild with fear, ran from one 


ROMEO 


37 


end of the garden to the other calling for 
Dorothy. Servants were hurrying from 
room to room in search of her, while Mrs. 
Dainty and Aunt Charlotte, having been 
to every room without finding trace of her, 
sat waiting for the servants to report to 
them. At last the young groom, hat in 
hand, came to announce that the pony was 
also missing. 

“ But that doesn’t account for Miss 
Dorothy’s being away, for she couldn’t 
mount without me to help her, so who has 
the pony, an’ who has her? It’s not off the 
place I’ve been since I saddled him.” 

It was the first time that there had been 
anxiety regarding Dorothy. Nancy had 
twice been lost. Could it be that in a like 
manner Dorothy had disappeared? 

Oh, fearful thought! Mrs. Dainty shud- 
dered and wished that her husband were 


38 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


at home, and just as excitement was at its 
highest pitch, the clatter of hoofs sounded 
in the driveway, and, as they hurried out 
on to the piazza, Dorothy, bright, laughing 
Dorothy greeted them. 

“ Just think, mamma, I walked Romeo 
up to the piazza myself, and slid into the 
saddle and was off before you dreamed it. 
Wasn’t it fine to have such a ride before 
breakfast, and to see how beautiful every- 
thing looks in the early morning? Why, 
how queer you all look! ” she said, as, for 
the first time, she noticed their anxious 
faces. 

For a moment no one spoke, and, com- 
pletely puzzled, she looked from one to 
another. 

“ Where is my Nancy? ” she asked, in 
sudden fear. “ Oh, she isn't lost again, 
is she? You look so frightened. Why, 


ROMEO 


39 


every one looks frightened except you, 
mamma. You look delighted/ * 

“ Oh, Dorothy, it was your early ride 
that alarmed us, and Nancy is half-wild 
with fear. She is looking everywhere for 
you, and indeed the groom is out searching 
for you, while every servant on the place 
is anxious for your safety. Ride around 
to the side door and let them see that you 
are safe, then return to me.” 

Dorothy was amazed. It had seemed to 
her that Nancy was the one who might be 
lost or stolen, as she had been before, but 
that the household might be anxious be- 
cause of her own absence had never oc- 
curred to her. She felt secure. It was 
Nancy’s Uncle Steve who had stolen her. 
She had no wicked uncle to take her from 
her home. How very odd it was that the 
entire household should have been fright- 


40 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

ened. The servants were rejoiced when 
they saw that Dorothy had returned, while 
Nancy’s delight knew no bounds. 

“ I can’t see why you were so worried,” 
Dorothy said, to which Nancy replied: 

“ I was stolen twice, Dorothy, and I 
couldn’t help thinking that some one had 
stolen you.” 

Mrs. Dainty explained to Dorothy her 
reason for wishing the groom always to 
attend her. 

“ It is not safe for you and Nancy to 
drive over lonely roads unattended. That 
is why the groom must always ride at a 
little distance behind you. Truly, Doro- 
thy, you must not again go out alone.” 

Dorothy willingly promised. Not for the 
world would she give a moment’s unhap- 
piness to her family or friends. 

The sunlight had been so charming, the 


ROMEO 


41 


ride so delightful, that she had been out 
far longer than she had dreamed. She 
had thought that a canter over the road 
would occupy only a short time, but she 
had urged Romeo a bit farther, until 
nearly an hour had slipped by as if on 
golden wings, and she had yet to return. 
She determined never to do anything 
which could make the household so uneasy, 
so frightened. The groom should always 
attend her. 


CHAPTER III 

A NEW NEIGHBOR 

mHE little stone cottage in which Aunt 
Charlotte Grayson lived was owned 
by Mr. Dainty, and it stood upon the 
grounds which surrounded the stone house. 
Opposite was Flossie Barnet’s home, and 
next beyond was a new house which had 
just been completed. Its front windows 
looked toward the stone cottage, its side 
windows toward the home of the Bar- 
nets. 

There had been much guessing as to the 
new neighbors and what they would look 
like. Flossie had believed that there would 
be three children in the family, and she 

42 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


43 


thought that they would be girls. Mollie 
agreed that there might be children, but 
she thought they would be boys, while 
Dorothy and Nancy refused to guess, pre- 
ferring to wait and see. 

One evening the family arrived, and it 
was Flossie Barnet who first met the little 
girl, who proved to be a strange character. 

It happened that on the next day after 
her arrival she went out upon the lawn to 
look about, and when she saw Flossie she 
at once decided to become acquainted. 
Flossie was eagerly looking to see if there 
were any fresh blossoms opening upon the 
blush-rose bushes. She did not know that 
any one was near her until the stranger 
spoke. 

“ Ahem! Good morning! ” 

Flossie turned. 

“ Oh, good morning,” she said. “ I 


44 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


didn’t know any one was out here but 
me.” 

“ I’ve come to live in the new house,” 
was the next remark, “ and I thought 
you’d like to know me. I’m Arabella 
Corryville.” 

She was not pleasing to look upon, and 
Flossie was not at all sure that she wished 
to know her, but if she was to be her next 
neighbor she must surely become ac- 
quainted with her, so without replying to 
Arabella’s remark, she offered her hand 
to her, saying: 

“ And I am Flossie Barnet.” 

Arabella took the proffered hand, but 
continued to talk of herself. She seemed 
to think that Flossie should at once know 
many facts regarding herself and her fam- 

iiy- 

“ I have to wear these glasses because 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


45 


I am near-sighted, and papa is away ’most 
all the time. Mamma don’t like house- 
keeping, so Aunt Matilda keeps house for 
us. She says kind of queer things some- 
times, and she says she has her ‘ views,’ 
but she says she’s a Presbyterian, so I 
guess she’s all right.” 

Flossie was wondering what Arabella 
expected her to say* when a shrill voice 
called: 

“ Arabella! Arabella! You’d better 
come in. The lawn must be damp.” 

“ That’s Aunt Matilda! She’s seen my 
rubbers in the closet and knows I forgot 
to put them on. 0 dear! She’ll have to 
tell me her views again.” 

Arabella ran across the lawn, and then 
remembering that she had left Flossie 
rather abruptly, paused to say: 


46 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ I’ll come out again when the lawn is 
dry. Good-by.’ ’ 

“ Good-by,” Flossie called to her, and 
then, as Arabella vanished around the cor- 
ner of the house, she wondered if she ought 
to be eager to see her again. 

Uncle Harry sat on the . piazza, and 
Flossie knew that he had seen Arabella, 
and he looked so amused that she thought 
that he must have heard what Arabella 
had said. 

“ What are you laughing at, Uncle 
Harry? ” she asked. 

“ I’m not laughing, I assure you,” he 
replied. “ I’m only amused. That was 
the queerest child that I ever saw. I 
couldn’t decide whether she was very 
young and looked a hundred years old, or 
whether she was a hundred years old and 
looked very young.” 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


47 


“ Harry, Harry! Really you must not 
poke fun at people. We all know what a 
tease you are, but truly you should be 
careful.” 

It was his lovely young wife who had 
spoken, but, although she gently rebuked 
him, her eyes were merrily twinkling. 

“I’m not ‘ poking fun,’ as you seem to 
think, but really, between you and me, 
hasn’t that queer child an acrobatic name"? 
I’m not sure if I shall be able to remember 
whether her name is Arabella Corryville 
or Carabella Orryville; it goes either way, 
you see. I wonder if she will be particular 
which I say.” 

“ I think she’d be very particular, and 
if she isn’t, her aunt might be. Arabella 
says her aunt has ‘ views.’ I think I 
should be afraid of her aunt,” Flossie con- 
cluded, to which Uncle Harry replied: 


48 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ I should really enjoy talking with Ara- 
bella’s Aunt Matilda; there might be fun 
exchanging ‘ views.’ ” 

When all the girls had met Arabella, 
and felt well acquainted with her, they 
puzzled over her odd ways, and each had 
a different idea of her. Mr. Dainty 
thought that she must be very lonely. 

“ Her father, Robert Corryville, was a 
classmate of mine at college, and I wish 
you to be kind to his little daughter,” he 
said, and Dorothy at once invited Ara- 
bella to meet her playmates. Dorothy did 
not like her, but would not say so, even 
to Nancy, and she tried to help her to 
become acquainted with the other girls. 

If Arabella was grateful, she did not 
show it, and when, at twilight, Dorothy 
sat beside Mrs. Dainty upon the piazza, 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


49 


she spoke of some things which had puz- 
zled her. 

“ I didn’t wish her to thank me,” she 
said, “ but I did think she would be 
pleased to know the girls. I don’t believe 
she was, though, for she acted as if she 
didn’t enjoy being with us.” 

Mrs. Dainty was not surprised. Mr. 
Dainty had said that, at college, Robert 
Corryville had been a strange, unfriendly 
young man whom his classmates had cared 
little for. They had admired him because 
he was an earnest student who stood high 
in his classes, but he was not agreeable, 
and so, of course, was not a favorite. 

“ It is to be hoped that his little daugh- 
ter is not like him,” Mr. Dainty had said. 
“ 1 have not seen him since our college 
days. In that time he may have grown 
more companionable, so we will call upon 


50 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


them, and Dorothy must try to be kind 
to Arabella.’ ’ 

And Dorothy had tried, but she had 
found her very hard to please. 

“ Oh, I couldn’t play that” Arabella 
would say, “ because Aunt Matilda would 
call it rude.” 

Then some one would suggest another 
game. 

“ I can’t play that” she would say, 
“ because you have to be out in the sun 
to play it.” 

“ Well, suppose we are in the sun, what 
then? ” questioned Molly Merton. 

“I’ll get freckles,” Arabella replied, 
“ and Aunt Matilda says it’s inelegant to 
have a freckly nose.” 

Molly’s quick temper was aroused. 

“ Oh, is it? ” she snapped. “ Well, I 
have some freckles on my nose, but I’m 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


51 


not going to be poking round in the 
shadow for fear I’ll get a few more.” 

“ P’r’aps we can play something in the 
grove; it’s shady there,” Flossie said, as 
usual wishing to be peacemaker, but Ara- 
bella did not wish to be pleased. 

“ I guess it’s damp there. I think Aunt 
Matilda ’d say so,” she said. 

“ Oh, bother Aunt Matilda,” whispered 
Nina Earl, to which Molly replied: 

“ That’s what I say.” 

They knew that it was not nice to say 
it, but truly Arabella was provoking. 

They played a few games that afternoon, 
but Arabella did not appear as if she en- 
joyed them. She was such an old-fash- 
ioned-looking child that one could seem 
to see her sitting down to talk with Aunt 
Matilda and looking much more at ease 


52 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

than when trying to play the merry games 
which the other girls enjoyed. 

It was now three weeks since she had 
come to live in the’ new house, and thus 
far no one had seen Aunt Matilda. 

“ What do you suppose she’s like?” 
Nancy asked one morning as they were 
speeding over the road in the pony car- 
riage. Dorothy guided the pony to the 
shady side of the road, then, turning 
toward Nancy she said: 

“ I believe she’s tall and very stout, do 
you? ” 

“ I think she’s big, and that’s why Ara- 
bella does just as she says; she’s afraid of 
her! She must be awfully big,” Nancy 
continued, “ for Arabella told me that her 
papa is afraid of Aunt Matilda.” 

“ Why, how funny! ” Dorothy said. 
“ Well, then, she must be large, for Mr. 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


53 


Corryville is very tall and stout, and lie 
used to be centre rush on the college foot- 
ball team, papa said, and he’s ’most a 
giant.” 

They met Molly and Flossie, and drew 
rein for a moment. Molly had a bit of 
news to tell. 

“ Arabella Corryville is spending the 
afternoon with Katy Dean. I wonder that 
her Aunt Matilda let her.” 

Dorothy and Nancy wondered, too, but 
they did not say so. Not that Katy was 
not charming, indeed she was one of the 
sweetest girls in the neighborhood, but it 
was a long walk to Katy’s house, and Ara- 
bella’s aunt usually insisted that she must 
stay very near home. 

A few days after, Arabella gave the 
pleasure of her company to Nina and 
Jeanette. They had asked her to come 


54 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ sometime,” and Arabella bad thought 
that there was no time like the present. 
She did not seem to be at all interested in 
the girls whom she had met, but she was 
curious to know if either of them had as 
beautiful a home as the great stone house. 
She had seen Katy Dean’s fine home, but 
it was not a stone house, so, of course, was 
not as fine as Dorothy’s. 

Arabella had not said so, but she had 
talked and talked of the great splendor of 
Dorothy’s home, until Katy had com- 
pletely lost patience. 

“ Dorothy’s home is fine; we all know 
that, but really, Arabella, you needn’t 
speak as if we other girls lived in shan- 
ties ,” Katy had said. 

Then Arabella looked quite grieved; 
she could always do that if she chose, and 
Katy wondered if she had been too hasty, 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


55 


if Arabella had not intended to be unkind. 
It was strange what disagreeable things 
Arabella could say without seeming to in- 
tend to say them. 

Katy was glad when Arabella said that 
she must go home, and Arabella was sorry. 
To Katy, the afternoon had been anything 
but pleasant, but Arabella had enjoyed it, 
and she told Katy that she would come 
very soon again. 

“ I’ll come to-morrow if Aunt Matilda’ll 
let me,” she called, as she ran down the 
walk. 

“ 0 dear, I wish she wouldn’t,” Katy 
said, while she wondered if it were very 
wicked to be truly glad to hear a friend say 
good-by. It would be impossible to say 
whether Arabella changed her mind, or 
whether she did not think Katy sufficiently 
eager to have her hasten to visit her, but 


56 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

certain it was that her next visit was to 
the Earl homestead. 

Nina and Jeanette were pleasant girls, 
but they were not as gentle as Katy, and 
Arabella knew that she must be a bit care- 
ful as to what she said. 

She did not care to play, so the three 
sat down in the shade of a large tree, and 
Nina proposed that they take turns telling 
stories. Jeanette told the first. If she 
liked it, the visitor had an odd way of 
showing her pleasure. 

“ Aunt Matilda says that fairy stories 
aren’t edg’cational,” she said. 

“ Why does she say that?” Jeanette 
asked, sharply. 

“ I don’t know,” Arabella said, “ only 
she always says that when she doesn’t ap- 
prove of things.” 

“ Well, I didn’t tell the story to your 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


57 


Aunt Matilda/ ’ snapped Jeanette, to which 
Arabella responded, coolly: 

“ I know that.” 

She did not say that the story had 
pleased her. 

Nina told the next one, and when she 
had said, “ and they lived happy ever 
after,” she turned toward Arabella, but 
Arabella was looking down the avenue. 

“ How far is your school from here? ” 
she asked. 

“ Why, Arabella Corryville! I’ve been 
telling a story to amuse you. Did you 
hear it? ” 

“ Why, yes, I heard it,” Arabella re- 
plied, “ but I was just wondering about 
your school.” 

It was not strange that the girls were 
vexed. Truly, Arabella was provoking, 
for when Nina told her about how far the 


58 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


schoolhouse was from their home, and 
Jeanette had commenced to tell of the 
fine times they had enjoyed at Aunt Char- 
lotte’s private school, Arabella spoke of 
something which she thought far more 
interesting. 

“ What a beautiful garden Dorothy 
Dainty has,” she said. 

“ We were just telling you about our 
private school,” Nina said. 

“ Yes, I know, but Vm talking of Doro- 
thy Dainty now,” was the cool reply. 
Then, after praising everything which be- 
longed to Dorothy, including her friend 
Nancy, she began to tell of the charms of 
Katy Dean, and of the beauty of her home. 

Nina and Jeanette were fond of Doro- 
thy, of Nancy, and of Katy, and they were 
always glad to hear pleasant things said 
of them, but Arabella had a peculiar way 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


59 


of saying pleasant things of one friend 
in a way that made the one who listened 
feel as if she were of no importance what- 
ever. While with Katy, Arabella wished 
to have her think that she preferred any 
other friend. Now, with Nina and Jean- 
ette, she was trying to have them think 
that she liked any of the other girls bet- 
ter. 

With such an unlovely disposition, Ara- 
bella could not have been happy, and in- 
deed her face was anything but sunny. 
Her sharp eyes seemed to be looking about 
for something in which to find a fault. 
Her thin little lips seemed ready for al- 
most any remark which could be so care- 
fully worded as to appear to* be kind, al- 
though it was intended to make discom- 
fort, and her smile— she did sometimes 
smile— was so slight that it could hardly 


60 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

be seen. And when she left them, Nina 
said to Jeanette: 

“ I said good-by to her right here, but 
you ran down the walk with her. Did you 
ask her to come again? ” 

“ I didn’t have a chance to,” Jeanette 
replied. “ She said she thought she might 
come again next week, if her everlasting 
Aunt Matilda would let her.” 

“ I don’t believe Arabella called her 
that,” laughed Nina. 

“ No, but I do, for I’m just sick of hear- 
ing about her,” said Jeanette. 

On the way home, Arabella met Nancy, 
who had been out to do an errand for 
Aunt Charlotte. She seemed intent upon 
mischief that afternoon, for she at once 
commenced to tell what a great personage 
her Aunt Matilda was, and how much more 
delightful it was to live with her than it 


A NEW NEIGHBOR 


61 


could possibly be to live with Aunt Char- 
lotte. 

Now Nancy loved Aunt Charlotte, and 
the moment that Arabella began to speak 
of her as being not nearly as nice as any 
other aunt in the world, Nancy forgot all 
the wise, kind things which Aunt Char- 
lotte had taught her as to thinking twice 
before speaking when she was angry. 

Think twice! Why, how could she think 
once where her dear Aunt Charlotte was 
concerned? 

“ I never have seen your Aunt Matilda, 
but you’ve seen my Aunt Charlotte, and 
you know she’s sweet and gentle, and you 
just needn’t say she’s anything but lovely! 
You just needn’t say it! Do you hear? ” 

To say that Arabella was surprised 
would express it but mildly. She was 
astonished. 


62 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ I’m sure I think I might say that I 
like my aunt best,” she whined, but 
Nancy, like a small whirlwind, had turned 
and was running up the driveway. 


CHAPTER IV 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 

mHE Corryvilles had occupied their new 
home but four weeks when it was 
learned that they were going to the moun- 
tains for the summer. Arabella told the 
news, and then looked eagerly to see if the 
girls were impressed. She had just told 
it to Dorothy when Nancy joined them, 
and before she had finished speaking, 
Molly with Flossie ran to meet them. 

For a moment no one spoke. Then 
Dorothy, feeling that it would be rude and 
unkind if no one noticed what Arabella 
had said, asked where she was going. 

“ I don’t know yet,” she replied. 

63 


64 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ Papa and mamma would like to go to 
the mountains, and so would I.” 

“ Then that’s where you’ll go, isn’t it? ” 
queried Molly. 

“ I guess so,” said Arabella, “ but it’ll 
make some difference what Aunt Matilda 
says.” 

It was with a sigh of relief that the little 
group of friends saw the Corryvilles de- 
parting for their summer outing. Ara- 
bella leaned far out of the carriage for a 
last word. 

“ Good-by,” she called; “ we’re off to 
the mountains. Aunt Matilda thought 
we’d better go there.” 

They saw Mr. Corryville lay a restrain- 
ing hand upon Arabella, and they caught 
a glimpse of a little old woman whose head 
was closely veiled. 

Could that have been Aunt Matilda? 



Dorothy drew Nancy into the cushioned window. — Page 65. 



A DAY OF SURPRISES 


65 


She did not look like a personage who 
could intimidate any one, certainly not a 
man of Mr. Corryville’s proportions, yet 
as Molly wisely said, “You couldn’t tell.” 

Arabella had not been a pleasant addi- 
tion to the group of girls who had so long 
been happy playmates, and it seemed as 
if with her departure the sunshine had 
returned. The bright June days sped as 
if on gilded wings, for there seemed always 
to be something delightful to do, or some 
pleasure to be enjoyed. 

One morning Dorothy drew Nancy into 
the cushioned window to listen to some- 
thing which she had to tell. It was evi- 
dently very important, because it had to 
be whispered, lest some one might hear. 
Dorothy’s blue eyes were bright with ex- 
citement; Nancy’s dark eyes answered 
with a merry twinkle. 


66 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Every one knew that a week from that 
day would be Mrs. Dainty’s birthday, but 
every one did not know just how it was 
to be celebrated. Indeed, Mr. Dainty de- 
clared that he had a secret regarding it. 
Mrs. Dainty said that she had several, 
while Aunt Charlotte smiled and kept her 
own counsel. 

“ Well, we have a beautiful secret,” 
said Dorothy, “ and you’ll say so when you 
know what it is. We’ll have to tell you 
a part of it the night before, and we’ll 
slioiv you the rest of it in the morning.” 

“ And why am I to have it in two parts 
instead of waiting until my birthday to 
hear and see it? ” Mrs. Dainty asked. 

“ Oh, that is part of the secret,” Doro- 
thy declared, “ and isn’t a whole week a 
long time to wait? ” 

At last the day before the birthday ar- 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


67 


rived, and a bright, beautiful day it was. 
There was a delightful drive in the morn- 
ing, and as they sped over the road it 
seemed as if the pony had caught the ex- 
citement, for his hoofs barely tapped the 
road, and he tossed his silken mane as if 
to show that he, too, enjoyed the drive. 

After lunch the gardener brought a huge 
mass of laurel with which to decorate the 
rooms, saying that the laurel would hold 
its freshness, and the bright-colored blos- 
soms could be fastened among the glossy 
leaves early in the morning. 

Dorothy and Nancy watched the men at 
work, after pausing to whisper over their 
fine plan for the next day. Truly it was 
very exciting. Guests were to arrive on 
the afternoon of the following day, not for 
a birthday party, but just a few intimate 
friends who would be delighted to be with 


68 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Mrs. Dainty and to wish her many happy 
returns. Aunt Charlotte had left her cot- 
tage early that morning, and had spent 
the day in assisting Mrs. Dainty. It had 
been a busy day, and she now stood wait- 
ing for Nancy, that they might together 
return to the cottage for the night. 

Nancy ran toward her, saying: 

“ I had to do just one thing more. I 
have something to say to Mrs. Dainty.’ ’ 

Aunt Charlotte nodded permission, and 
Mrs. Dainty turned a smiling face toward 
Nancy. 

“ You have something to say to me? ” 
she asked. 

Nancy made a graceful curtsey. 

“ We have heard Mr. Dainty call you 
the queen of this household. To-morrow 
morning at nine a princess will arrive, and 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


69 


she begs that you will be upon the balcony 
to greet her,” Nancy said. 

“ She shall receive a royal welcome,” 
Mrs. Dainty replied. 

The gardens were bathed in sunlight, 
the flowers nodded in the soft breeze, the 
butterflies chased each other from the 
roses to the mignonette, then high above 
the fountain they flew over the garden wall 
and back again, because the gardens, after 
all, were fairer than the highway. 

At eight o’clock Dorothy opened the 
great door and ran across the lawn to join 
Nancy, who she knew would be waiting 
for her. 

Nancy was there, and so was the gar- 
dener, and in a few moments the groom 
appeared, leading Komeo and followed by 
the maid, who had promised to assist. 


70 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Three tinkling bells hung from his col- 
lar, for which Dorothy thanked the groom, 
who had given them to help in decorating 
the pony. 

The maid wove a wreath for Dorothy’s 
sunny hair, and Borneo was given his share 
of bright blossoms. The groom declared 
that the pony knew that he was being dec- 
orated. 

“ Look, Miss Dorothy! See how proud 
he holds his head! I tell you he knows 
he’s a fine little beast, and he thinks he’s 
bein’ dressed up smart. See him paw the 
ground an’ toss his head! There’s pride 
for you.” 

Dorothy clasped her arms about his 
neck. 

“Oh, my own Borneo, I love you so,” 
she cried, and even as she caressed him 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


71 


lie arched his neck, and then touched her 
arm with his soft lips. 

“ He tries to say ‘ I love you,’ ” said 
Dorothy. 

“ An’ no wondher,” whispered the gar- 
dener. 

Nancy added a few blossoms, tucking 
them in every conceivable place, and at last 
they were ready. 

“ You look just like a princess,” said 
Nancy. “ Now I’ll run over to the hedge 
where Aunt Charlotte is waiting for me. 
We’d like to see how delighted your 
mamma will be when she comes out on to 
the balcony. We’ll be just behind the 
hedge, where we’ll see and not be seen. 
We want no one in sight but you, Doro- 
thy.” 

Then the gardener picked up the old 
flageolet and played a most amazing fan- 


72 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

fare. He felt that the coming of the prin- 
cess should have been heralded with a 
blare of trumpets. He had once read an 
exciting story of olden times, wherein the 
royal personages, wherever they went, 
stirred never a foot until the flourish of 
trumpeters had told of their approach. 

Accordingly he trilled upon the flageo- 
let, and was delighted to see the French 
window open, and Mrs. Dainty appear 
upon the balcony. Then out into the sun- 
light rode the Princess Dorothy, the pony 
approaching the house with mincing steps, 
as if he thought the . lawn but half good 
enough to walk upon. 

How beautiful! How like a princess 
Dorothy held herself! With Nancy she 
had read countless fairy-tales, and to- 
gether they had dreamed of the grace and 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 73 

dignity which those fairy princesses had 
possessed. 

Hidden by the hedge, Aunt Charlotte 
and Nancy lovingly watched Dorothy, as, 
with Romeo, she passed the fountain and 
on toward the house. Then, looking up to 
the balcony, she waved her bouquet in 
salute. 

“ Your Highness, I come to greet you,” 
said Dorothy. 

“ Fair princess, I bid you welcome,” 
Mrs. Dainty responded, smiling with pleas- 
ure as she looked with pride at her dear 
Dorothy. 

It was then that Dorothy’s clear so- 
prano voice rang out in a song which Aunt 
Charlotte had taught her. 


1 Lady fair, oh, lady dear, 
List, I sing a song of cheer, 


74 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Flowers bright I bring to you 
Jewelled o’er with drops of dew, 

I’ve another gift, I trow, 

Shall I enter and bestow ? ” 

Dorothy paused, and in her outstretched 
hand Mrs. Dainty saw a package. 

“ Enter at once, my princess,’ ’ she said; 
“ ’tis easy to reach me, for this is a modern 
house, and there is no drawbridge to be 
lowered.” 

Then Dorothy sprang from the saddle, 
and with her bouquet and gift ran lightly 
up the steps and in at the open door, fol- 
lowed by Nancy, who had hastened from 
her hiding-place that she might witness 
Mrs. Dainty’s pleasure at the sight of her 
gift. 

“ Oh, mamma, were you pleased? You 
knew who the princess would be, didn’t 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


75 


you? And were you very much sur- 
prised? ” 

“ I believed that you would be the prin- 
cess, dear, but, of course, I never dreamed 
of your lovely costume, or of the beautiful 
scene when, with Romeo decked with flow- 
ers, you rode down the lawn in the sun- 
light. It was very charming and pictur- 
esque/ ’ 

“ Aunt Charlotte made my costume, and 
Nancy helped the maid to dress me/’ 
Dorothy said, eager that those who had 
aided her should share in her honors. 
“ And Aunt Charlotte taught me the 
song, but Nancy and I planned this part 
of your birthday surprise,” she continued, 
“ and, oh, mamma, here are the flowers 
which truly are ‘ jewelled o’er with drops 
of dew,’ and this„is your princess’s gift. 
Oh, we do hope you’ll like it.” 


76 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Mrs. Dainty kissed the eager upturned 
face. 

“ The bouquet is beautiful, and before 
I see the gift, I know that I shall like it. 
Whatever you might choose, dear, would 
please me.” 

Yet, even with this assurance, Dorothy 
looked with great eagerness while the rib- 
bons were being untied, and almost held 
her breath when the tissue-paper was un- 
folded and her mamma’s beautiful eyes 
rested upon the gift. 

“ Oh, Dorothy, my dear, it is perfect, 
this picture of yourself, and how very still 
Romeo must have stood! Why, when was 
the picture taken upon this very lawn that 
I should never have caught a glimpse of 
the artist? ” 

“ Oh, I’m so glad you like it, for we 
planned it together, Nancy and I. Flos- 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


77 


sie’s Uncle Harry took the picture the day 
that you went for a shopping trip.” 

“ You could not have pleased me more,” 
Mrs. Dainty said. “ The little picture is 
perfect, and its gilt frame is exquisite.” 

“ Nancy ran to tell him we were ready 
as soon as you were on your way to the 
depot. We had to try ever so many times 
before we could get a picture in which 
Romeo was still at the same time that I 
was.” 

“ This one is a fine portrait of you both,” 
Mrs. Dainty said, “ and now you must 
know that I have already received a beau- 
tiful present. Open the case which stands 
upon my dressing-case. It holds a price- 
less gift.” 

Together they crossed the room, opened 
the blue velvet case, then clasped their 
hands in silent delight. Nancy gave a 


78 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


little cry of surprise and admiration. 
Then Dorothy spoke: 

“ Oh, the beautiful necklace, how it 
blazes! ” she said. 

“ The red stone on the clasp seems on 
fire,” cried Nancy. 

“ And the diamonds all around it twin- 
kle and flash like stars. It is papa’s gift,” 
Dorothy said. 

Yes, there was the tiny card beside it, 
upon which was written “ From Ru- 
dolph.” 

To please them and that they might see 
its beauty, Mrs. Dainty clasped it about 
her throat, where its great brilliancy 
showed even more than when it lay upon 
the satin lining of its velvet case. Then, 
still wearing her jewels, she led Dorothy 
and Nancy to a table, upon which two little 
packages lay. 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


79 


“ These are for you,” she said. “ I 
could not think of receiving all the charm- 
ing surprises.” 

When they opened them, words could 
not express their delight. A tiny locket 
and chain for each they found, almost 
alike, but with just enough difference so 
that, at a glance, they could tell them 
apart. 

“ What a lovely locket,” Dorothy said. 
“I’d rather have it than anything I could 
think of, mamma.” 

“ Such a dear present. Oh, how kind 
you are to me,” Nancy said, and her dark 
eyes were tender with the love and grate- 
fulness which she felt. 

Mrs. Dainty was about to speak when 
Aunt Charlotte came hurrying in. Over 
her arm hung a soft gray silk gown, to the 


80 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

neck of which was attached a collar of 
rich lace. 

“ My dear, my dear, who ever dreamed 
of such a gift for me? Truly you wish 
us to be happy on your birthday.’ ’ 

Aunt Charlotte’s gentle voice trembled, 
but her eyes, her bright smile showed her 
delight. 

“ Indeed I do wish all the household to 
share in my pleasure, and of all your 
gowns I think this one will be the most 
becoming. I am so glad that you like it.” 

“ I shall wear it to-day in your honor,” 
Aunt Charlotte said, “ and I earnestly 
wish you many, many happy returns of 
the day.” 

66 I wish you the same, dear friend,” 
Mrs. Dainty replied. “It is a blessing to 
have you with us.” 

The servants were remembered with 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 81 

gifts which gladdened their hearts, and a 
cheery host they were as they made prep- 
arations for the expected guests. 

“ It is a day of surprises, just a day of 
great surprises/ ’ said Nancy, spinning 
about because her excitement would not 
let her be still. 

“ That’s just what it is,” agreed Doro- 
thy. 66 Papa found a lovely charm for his 
watch-chain this morning. It was mam- 
ma’s gift to him. I do wonder what the 
next fine surprise will be.” 

So many delightful things had already 
occurred that it was not strange that both 
Dorothy and Nancy believed that at any 
moment some other amazing thing might 
happen. 

Soon the guests began to arrive, and 
with them came beautiful gifts for Mrs. 
Dainty. Out in the sunlight the gardens 


82 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


were a mass of gorgeous color, the foun- 
tain played its soft, tinkling, plashing 
music, while indoors soft music of violins 
swept through the corridors. All was sun- 
shine and merriment, the happy meeting 
of charming friends. 

Mr. Dainty returned from the city for 
the afternoon that he, too, might enjoy the 
pleasure of his guests. 

Dorothy and Nancy thought that there 
never had been so perfect a day. When 
evening came the house and grounds were 
brilliantly lighted, and the gaiety was at 
its height when in the doorway appeared 
the young groom, his frightened face tell- 
ing that something unusual had caused his 
sudden appearance. 

“ If you please, sir, I must speak to you 
a moment/ ’ he said to Mr. Dainty, who 
happened to be standing near the doorway. 


A DAY OF SURPRISES 


83 


Mr. Dainty hastily followed the man, 
who had retired to the hall. 

“ Please, sir, I know my place, but I 
couldn’t wait for the maid to take my 
message to you, sir, but the pony’s dis- 
appeared and no trace of him can we 
find.” 

“ How can that be, Creston? ” 

“ That’s what I don’t know, sir, is how 
it happened. The little beast was in the 
stable when I went to supper. No, sir, 
we didn’t go to supper at the same time. 
Mrs. Dainty said we was not to do that, 
so I had tea with the maids, and when I 
went back to the stables the coachman 
went up to the house to have tea with the 
butler. The coachman’s as scared as I be. 
Whatever are we to do? ” 

“ You’re sure you’ve not been off the 
place, Creston? ” 


84 DOROTHY DAINTY \ AT HOME 

“ Neither man nor maid servant have 
been off the place to-day, sir,” was the 
prompt reply, so earnestly given that Mr. 
Dainty could not doubt him. 


CHAPTER V 


MANDY AND CHUB 

A DAY of surprises it had been, as 
Nancy had said, but this was not the 
sort of surprise for which the happy throng 
was looking. At first Mr. Dainty thought 
only of keeping the unhappy news from 
Dorothy, that the bright day might not 
be marred by the loss of her dear Romeo. 

Then it flashed through his mind that 
his guests even now were wondering at 
the sudden appearance of the frightened 
groom; indeed he remembered that a nerv- 
ous woman had whispered something about 
fire. Did she imagine that the groom had 
come to warn the host of danger? 

85 


86 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


He felt that he had no choice but to 
allay their fears, but he determined to 
speak as lightly as possible for Dorothy’s 
sake. With an effort he forced a smile 
and reentered the drawing-room. He saw 
at once that while they listened to the 
music, or stood in little groups conversing, 
they were very evidently ill at ease. 

6 6 Friends,” he said, “ the groom who 
so hastily summoned me was quite un- 
necessarily nervous. One of our horses 
is not in the stable, and the groom has 
jumped at the conclusion that he is not 
on the place. The men servants are 
searching for him now, and with extra as- 
sistance which I have secured, the animal 
will doubtless soon be found.” 

A sigh of relief swept through the room; 
it was, then, nothing worth being fright- 
ened about, they thought. Again they 


MANDY AND CHUB 


87 


were laughing and talking as gaily as be- 
fore. They had all heard Mr. Dainty’s 
reassuring speech, and all derived comfort 
from it, save the two who stood in a recess 
with clasped hands and parted lips. Each 
had the same thought, that the missing 
horse was Romeo. A moment they stood 
thus, then Dorothy ran across the room to 
ask the question to which she believed she 
knew the answer. 

She laid her hand upon her father’s arm 
and looked up into his face, her fine blue 
eyes meeting his, which they so closely 
resembled. 

“ Papa, is it Romeo that they said was 
not in the stable? Was it? ” she asked. 

“ Yes, Dorothy, it is Romeo, but you 
must not be so frightened. You know 
that he is never tied, and it would not be 
singular if he had walked out to have a 


88 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


little trot around the place. The great 
gates were closed, so you see it is not 
likely that he is far from here.” 

“ Oh, if the gates were closed he may 
soon be found,” she said, and thus com- 
forted, she ran back to Nancy. Mr. Dainty 
did not tell her that the extra aid which 
he had summoned was from police head- 
quarters. It was neither wise nor kind to 
frighten her when by the morrow her pet 
might be returned. 

-With good wishes, and many thanks for 
having been so charmingly entertained, the 
guests took leave of their host and hostess, 
and then it was that Rudolph Dainty told 
his wife of the groom’s message, and that 
the men had not yet found the pony. 

“If he is not found to-morrow I shall 
offer a generous reward for his return. 
You know how truly Dorothy cares for her 


MANDY AND CHUB 


89 


pets; another handsome pony would not 
be Romeo/ ’ 

When morning came, Dorothy had to 
learn that the pony had not returned. 
Nancy overheard the maids, as they gos- 
siped over the affair, telling that the great 
gates had been locked upon the outside, 
so that whoever had stolen the pony, and 
of course he was stolen, they argued, had 
locked the gates upon the outside, so that 
he thus might hinder whoever should at- 
tempt to follow. 

The servants were greatly excited and 
talked of little else, and the fact that the 
pony had not been found furnished a mys- 
tery about which to gossip. 

They loved Dorothy, and were sorry 
that she should be grieving for her lost 
pet, but they could not help feeling a bit 
important. It was a fine thing to belong 


90 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


to the Dainty household, and Nancy heard 
a maid telling the coachman that she liked 
to be in a place where there was always 
something happening. 

“ An’ ye won’t say ye’re pleased ter 
have the pony stole, are ye? If ye are, 
ye’re a queer girl,” said the coachman. 

“ Indeed I’m not,” was the indignant 
reply, “ but as long as he is stole, there’s 
no harm in us girls talking about it.” 

If the servants gossiped, they were care- 
ful not to do so when Dorothy was near, 
but not every one was so thoughtful. 

Dorothy herself was trying to be brave, 
and to believe that Romeo would be found. 

“ He may be found. Just think how I 
was stolen from you twice , and now I’m 
with you,” Nancy said, trying thus to 
cheer Dorothy. 


MANDY AND CHUB 


91 


Dorothy turned and clasped Nancy in 
her arms. 

“ That’s the only way that I can com- 
fort myself,” she said, gently. “ It’s so 
hard to be wondering where my Romeo is 
that it seems as if I couldn’t bear it, but 
it isn’t half so bad as it would be if it 
was you, Nancy dear, that we couldn’t 
find.” 

Mr. Dainty had told the servants to say 
nothing to Dorothy about the lost pony, 
nor were they to repeat to her any gossip 
regarding his disappearance. Her friends 
were too kind to say a word which might 
add to her regret, but one never can tell 
what mischievous person will hear a rumor 
and run to tell it. 

Dorothy and Nancy were walking up 
and down the avenue one day, their arms 
about each other. Nancy was talking of 


92 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Vera Vane, whom they had first met at 
the shore, and next in the city where they 
had spent the previous winter. They had 
reached a place where the wall was so low 
that they could sit upon it. 

Side by side they sat, talking of Vera, 
Dorothy for the moment forgetting to 
grieve, when around a curve of the road 
came a girl and boy, who paused when 
they saw the girls upon the wall, and 
turned as if about to retrace their steps. 
They were not at all attractive. The boy 
was short and chubby, with a mass of 
thick, sandy hair; the girl was tall and 
slender, and her gingham dress hung about 
her as a bedraggled flag will cling to its 
staff. The girl stooped to whisper to the 
boy, who nodded, as if satisfied with what 
he had heard, and they walked slowly 
along until they stood near Dorothy. 


MANDY AND CHUB 


93 


“ You know who we are, but she don’t,” 
said the girl, looking sharply at Nancy. 
“I’m Jimmy Harkins’s sister Mandy, an’ 
he’s Chub,” she continued, addressing 
Dorothy, while she pointed a very grimy 
finger toward the boy. “ He’s got ’nother 
name, but nobody never calls him by it, 
so you needn’t.” 

Dorothy thought that she was not long- 
ing to call him anything, but she could 
not say that. She could not tell Mandy 
that she was glad to know her. What 
could she say that would be polite, and 
yet would not encourage the odd pair to 
stay? She would speak kindly of Jimmy; 
she could do that truthfully. 

“ My papa says that your brother 
Jimmy is the best boy he ever had in his 
office,” she said. 

“ Wal, I do ’no’,” Mandy said, doubt- 


94 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

fully. “ Ma had ter lick him pretty often, 
an’ that’s why he ran away. He sends 
some of his money ter ma, an’ he likes his 
place, but ma thinks your pa’s ’most too 
kind ter him.” 

“ Why, I should think you’d be glad to 
know that Dorothy’s papa is good to him,” 
said Nancy. 

“ I guess ma’d just as soon he’d be kind 
ter him, only Jimmy is gittin’ ter feel 
pretty big,” Mandy replied. “ He’s goin’ 
ter evenin’ school now. He says he’s goin’ 
ter be just as near like Mr. Dainty as he 
can, an’ he even thinks p’r’aps he’ll look 
like him when he’s grown up. He said 
so in a letter he writ ter ma. When ma 
read that she said: 

“ ‘ I guess not , with that snub nose er 
his’n! ’ ” 

While Mandy had been speaking, Chut), 


HANDY AND CHUB 


95 


with round eyes, had been staring at Doro- 
thy. Now he spoke: 

“ Jimmy th no the goeth right up, tho,” 
he remarked, with his stubby finger push- 
ing his own nose upward to make clear 
his meaning. 

Dorothy wished that they would con- 
tinue their walk, but she could not rudely 
tell them to go. Nancy wished it, too, and 
thinking to help Dorothy, she said: 

“ I think we’ll go back to the garden, 
Dorothy.” 

u I wonder you don’t say our garden,” 
said Mandy, unpleasantly. “ Ye needn’t 
be in a hurry, fer we ain’t goin’ ter stay 
much longer. We’re goin’ ter the bakery, 
him an’ me, but I’ll just ask you if ye’ve 
found yer pony? ” 

“ Oh, Mandy, why did you ask her? ” 
said Nancy. 


96 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ What’s the harm er askin’? ” the girl 
replied. “ I was only goin’ ter say that 
some er the folks over our way says that 
the circus folks took him when they left 
town, an’ some says the ‘ Cowboys’ Cara- 
van ’ took him, so I do ’no’ which. If it’s 
the circus, he’ll be learnt ter have riders 
a-hoppin’ round on top er his back, an’ 
if it’s the ‘ Cowboys’ Caravan ’ that’s got 
him, they’ll throw lassos round his neck, 
an’ mebbe they’ll punch him with er hot 
cow-puncher.” 

Dorothy cried out with the pain which 
Mandy’s story caused her, and, with her 
hands over her ears, slipped from the wall 
and ran toward the garden, up the walk, 
and into the house, while Nancy, angry 
that any one should so cruelly grieve Doro- 
thy, turned toward Mandy with flashing 
eyes. 


MANDY AND CHUB 


97 


“ Don’t you ever do such a thing as that 
again, Mandy Harkins,” she said. 

“ I ain’t ’fraid er you, Nancy Ferris. 
I remember when you lived over near me 
an’ wa’n’t nobody ’tall. I guess I ain’t 
likely ter be ’fraid er you now.” 

Chub, to show that he sided with his 
sister, frowned darkly, and kicked a lot of 
loose gravel toward Nancy. Then he 
picked up a stone, but before he could 
hurl it, a strong hand reached over the 
wall and shook the stone from his dirty 
little fist. 

“ Dhrop it, ye little rascal! An’ d’ye 
git out’n this neighborhood ter onct, both 
av ye! I’ve heared enough, an’ losht me 
patience entoirely. Git now, or I’ll git out 
me schoop-net an’ gather the two av ye 
in it, an’ off ter the p’lice station ye’ll go, 
d’ye moind that? ” 


98 DOROTHY. DAINTY AT HOME 


Mind! The dust flew as they ran down 
the avenue, never once turning to look 
back at the angry gardener. How did they 
know but that his scoop-net was just over 
the wall, where in an instant he could 
grasp it? 

Nancy ran to the house to follow and 
comfort Dorothy, while the wrathful gar- 
dener watched to see if by any chance the 
unlovely pair might come back, but they 
had no thought of returning. 

Chub’s eyes were full of tears, so that he 
could not see where he was going, and 
he found it a task to make his dumpy legs 
keep pace with Mandy’s long strides. She 
held his hand, and pulled him over the 
road with a laudable intention of dragging 
him out of danger, and never a whit cared 
he where he was going, so long as Mandy 
was tugging him out of the reach of the 



Chub found it a task to make his dumpy leg's keep pace 
with Mandy’s long- strides. — Page 98. 













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MANDY AND CHUB 


99 


man and his net. Chub never doubted that 
even at that moment the net was ready to 
ensnare him. 

How they ran! Mandy ’s eyes were wide 
open, staring with fright; Chub’s were 
shut tight, lest he should catch sight of 
that net! 

When they had turned the bend of the 
road, Mandy slackened her speed, but she 
did not stop until she had reached that 
part of the village where the roads were 
narrow and shabby houses the rule and 
not the exception. Then she sat down 
upon a stone, and offended Chub by asking 
him why he was crying. 

“ Come here and tell me this minute,” 
she demanded, at the same time pulling 
him roughly toward her. Chub shut his 
eyes tighter, and, opening his mouth wide, 
let out a scream like an engine whistle. 


LOfC. 


100 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ What ye r screechin’ fer? ” asked 
Mandy, at the same time shaking him, as 
if to shake an answer from the wide-open 
mouth. 

“ Oh, ow, the thcoop-net! ” he roared. 

“ Wal, if I ever! ” ejaculated Mandy, 
as grandly and with as much surprise as 
if she had not for a moment thought of 
being frightened. 

“ Why, there’s no scoop-net here, nor 
no man neither,” she said, 4 i an’ if ye don’t 
b’lieve it, jest open yer eyes.” 

Chub opened one eye a trifle, then the 
other, and, seeing no one but Mandy near 
him, suddenly acquired courage. 

“ Huh! Who’th ’fraid! ” he said. 

And while Mandy and Chub were rest- 
ing to regain their breath, Nancy was 
bending over Dorothy. 

Mandy ’s hints as to the possible where- 


MANDY AND CHUB 


101 


abouts of her dear Romeo had made her 
wretched. 

Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte had 
gone to the city for a shopping trip, and 
Mr. Dainty was, of course, at his office, so 
there was no wise, older friend to comfort * 
her. She had thrown herself down upon 
the cushioned hall seat, and Nancy ’s best 
efforts failed to cheer her. 

The maid came out to dust the hall, and 
was at once eager to learn if Dorothy were 
ill. 

“ Indeed, Miss Dorothy, if you’ll tell 
me what ails you, I’ll do anything for 
you,” she said. 

“ She isn’t ill,” Nancy explained, and 
told the maid how the silly stories had 
frightened her. Then it was that quite 
innocently the girl blundered: 

“ Circus is it, or the Cowboys’ Cara- 


102 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

van? Indeed, it’s not so at all, for some 
boy told the coachman that ’twas the gip- 
sies that had him, so you needn’t b’lieve 
what that Harkins girl said.” 

She did not dream that she had blun- 
dered, and wondered why Dorothy’s tears 
flowed afresh. She had intended to com- 
fort her, and she left the hall wondering 
why she had not succeeded. Surely, if 
Dorothy had not liked what Mandy Har- 
kins had told her, here was yet another 
tale. 

Dorothy had thought that Romeo was 
lost or stolen by some one who wanted him 
for a pet. She had not dreamed that he 
might be ill-treated, and the thought that 
the handsome, gentle pony might be 
abused, that a hot branding-iron might 
sear his sleek body, filled her with horror. 
Oh, could it be that that Harkins girl 


MANDY AND CHUB 


103 


knew, and that gentle, graceful Romeo was 
writhing with pain? Dorothy cried until 
Nancy was in despair. Nothing that she 
could say or do would comfort her, because 
nothing could make her forget what 
Mandy had said. 


CHAPTER VI 


ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 

Ij! VERY one missed Romeo, from his 
loving little mistress to the children 
of the village streets. He had prized Doro- 
thy’s caresses, after following her to coax 
for more love-pats from her soft hands. 
Nancy loved him, and indeed he had been 
a favorite with all of Dorothy’s friends. 
Whenever she left the carriage to enter 
the post-office, the village children would 
gather about the pony, and it sometimes 
seemed as if he knew that his good points 
were being discussed. He had accepted a 
share of their candy, taking it from their 
hands in the gentlest manner, and now 

104 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 105 


they were sorry not to see him, and very 
eager to know if he had been found. 

The next day after Mandy had told the 
tale which had so frightened Dorothy, a 
bit of news was circulated which found 
ready listeners at every street corner. It 
being Saturday, there was no school to 
keep the children captive, and they formed 
a part of every group, listening to their 
elders, or talking among themselves about 
the one subject which interested all. 

“ A hundred dollars reward, an’ no ques- 
tions axed! That orter fetch ’em, who- 
ever they be,” said a burly policeman, 
“ an’ that’s what he offers ter any one 
what’ll bring the pony back ter him safe 
an’ sound.” 

“ If I was the feller what stole that lit- 
tle hoss, I wouldn’t be likin’ ter go up ter 
the fine house with him, fer seems ’s if Mr. 


106 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Dainty couldn’t help axin’ suthin’,” said 
another. 

“ He won’t, though,” rejoined the po- 
liceman, “ fer he ain’t that kind of er man. 
He said 6 a hundred dollars reward an’ no 
questions axed,’ an’ he’ll stick to ’t. He’s 
the soul of honor, an’ ye kin count on his 
doin’ what he says he’ll do every time.” 

“ That’s just so,” agreed a rough-look- 
ing man, who had sauntered along to join 
the group. 

“ He promised ter do something fer me 
one time, an’ when the time came fer him 
ter do it he could er got out’n it just as 
well as not, but when I told him so, he 
looked at me with them clear blue eyes 
er his’n, an’ says he, ‘ I promised A He 
said it so solemn-like that I almost held 
my breath. He done what he promised 
ter, an’ considable more.” 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 107 

“ Will somebody bring the pony back 
to Dorothy Dainty? ” asked the little girl 
who clung to the speaker’s hand. “ Will 
they, papa? ” she repeated. 

“ I do’no’,” he said; “ I know I hope 
they will.” 

4 ‘ So do I,” said the little girl. 

“ Do you know her? ” questioned a child 
who stood beside her. 

u I don’t know her, but I know who she 
is, and she’s sweet to look at, so I wish 
she’d get her pony back.” 

Many of the townspeople knew Nancy 
Ferris, and they could not forget how kind 
Mrs. Dainty had been to her. They saw 
how lovingly Nancy was cared for, and 
they admired the generous spirit which led 
Mr. Dainty and his lovely wife to be kind 
and to give aid to all who needed it. No 


108 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

deserving person had ever asked aid of 
Rudolph Dainty who had been refused. 

There was much excitement at the great 
stone house. Vera Vane had promised to 
visit Dorothy sometime during the sum- 
mer, and now she was coming to spend 
a week, and would arrive on Monday. 
There was much to anticipate, for Vera 
was full of fun, a bright, merry friend. 

u We must do everything we can to 
make her visit pleasant, and we’ll have to 
do something different every day, because 
you know she gets tired of things in just 
no time,” said Dorothy. 

“ How I wish we had — ” Nancy said, 
then stopped and looked at Dorothy. 

But Dorothy knew what Nancy had in- 
tended to say. 

“ Yes, oh, yes, I wish we had the pony. 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 109 
Vera would have enjoyed some rides with 
him. We can drive with mamma, but he 
was my own little horse, my Romeo.’ ’ 

An hour later Dorothy learned of the 
reward which had been offered, and, with 
Nancy for companion, she seated herself 
in the window which looked out upon the 
driveway, to watch for Romeo’s return. 
For who could resist the offer of a hundred 
dollars? They believed that at any mo- 
ment a man would appear leading the 
pony up the walk to claim his reward. 

The day passed, however, and not a 
word was heard of the missing pet. Sun- 
day came, and no pony appeared; Mon- 
day morning and afternoon, and still Doro- 
thy waited. 

“ Oh, Nancy, do you suppose that who- 
ever stole him doesn’t know of the reward 


110 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


papa offered, or that he’d rather keep the 
pony? ” 

The day had been sultry, but at twilight 
a cool breeze which felt as if it had blown 
in from the sea caused them to leave the 
piazzas and seek the warmth and cosy cheer 
of the open fire. 

Mr. Dainty remained outside, saying 
that he would finish his cigar and then 
join them in the cheerful sitting-room. 

Aunt Charlotte told some amusing sto- 
ries of places which she had visited and 
people whom she had met, to which Doro- 
thy and Nancy eagerly listened, Mrs. 
Dainty seeming as much interested as 
they. 

Mr. Dainty, pacing up and down the 
broad piazza, noticed that his cigar was 
nearly finished, and turned to throw it 
aside, when in the dusky shadows near the 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 111 

gateway lie saw, or thought he saw some 
one approaching the house. He waited. 
Whoever it was, whether friend or 
stranger, was making slow headway, and 
his footsteps could hardly be heard. And 
was he a person of huge proportions? 
Was it more than one person who ap- 
proached? 

Although the gardens were brightly 
lighted, there were great shadows cast by 
the trees and shrubbery, and when the 
approaching figure reached one of those 
dark places, it paused a moment, then 
again came toward the house. Mr. Dainty 
could now see that it was a man of ordi- 
nary size, and he wondered what could 
have made him appear to be a giant before 
he stepped out into the light. 

He was a coarse-looking man, and, as 
he neared the piazza, Mr. Dainty saw that 


112 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

it was a sullen face which looked out from 
under the slouching hat-brim. 

He took another step forward, and 
touched his hat awkwardly. 

“ Mr. Dainty? ” he asked. 

“ I am Mr. Dainty. What do you 
wish? ” 

“ There’s a clean hundred dollars yer 
offer ter the feller what’ll bring yer little 
girl’s pony back, an’ ye say ‘ no questions 
axed.’ Will yer pay the money? ” 

“ Certainly, when the pony is brought 
here, safe and sound,” Mr. Dainty said, 
firmly. 

“ An’ ax no questions? ” the man asked, 
cautiously. 

“ And ask no questions,” Mr. Dainty 
repeated, his voice betraying his impa- 
tience. He believed that the man was an 
idler who had heard of the reward, and, 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 113 

with no idea as to the pony’s whereabouts, 
was eager to win the prize and anxious 
in regard to the terms. The next remark 
was most unexpected: 

“ The pony’s here, sir, an’ as ye promise 
ter pay prompt — ” 

He paused — “ ter pay prompt ” he re- 
peated. 

“ At once,” was the quick reply. 

“ Then I’ll bring him up,” said the man, 
“ an’ d’ye wait where ye are.” 

He hurried down the driveway to a 
clump of bushes, returning almost immedi- 
ately with the pony, whose hoofs made 
only a dull sound, as if he were shod with 
overshoes, as indeed he was, but of what 
a strange design! 

66 Led him up here, an’ muffled his feet 
fust. Ef ye was goin’ ter do the straight 
thing I’d lead him ter yer an’ c’lect the 


114 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

money; ef ye wasn't straight, I’d lead him 
back, an’, with them things onto his hoofs, 
ye’d never know he’d been here.” 

Mr. Dainty made sure that the pony was 
unharmed, then, tying the halter to a 
slender birch-tree, he turned to the man, 
who stood sullenly waiting. 

The man looked like a sneak, and, as 
Mr. Dainty stepped toward him, he cow- 
ered and drew back. He had intended to 
snatch the pocketbook and run, but he 
knew that he would be no match for the 
splendid, athletic figure before him. 

Mr. Dainty produced two fifty-dollar 
bills, which he had placed in an envelope 
for this purpose, and laid them in the 
grimy outstretched hand. 

“ I promised to ask no questions, and 
I’ll stick to it,” he said, “ but I’ll do one 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 115 

thing which I didn’t promise to do: I’ll 
escort you to the gate.” 

Silently the two walked down the drive- 
way. Mr. Dainty opened the gate and the 
man slouched out. Not another word was 
spoken, but the groom, who, unseen, had 
been a silent witness, heard the man mut- 
ter as he turned from the gate: 

“ Good job that! Got a chance ter see 
the house close to, an’ a hundred dollars to 
boot! ” 

It had been done so quickly that it 
seemed like a dream. 

The man had appeared, had spoken in 
an undertone. Then he had led the pony 
with its padded hoofs up the driveway to 
where the master of the house stood, had 
pocketed the money, and slouched down the 
walk to the gate and out upon the avenue, 
where in the shadows of the trees he was 


116 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

soon out of sight. Even the pony looked 
ghostly in the electric light. 

Mr. Dainty untied the halter and led 
Romeo toward the stable, but before he 
had reached the corner of the house, the 
groom overtook him. 

“I’ll take him to the stable, sir, while 
you tell the good news to Miss Dorothy. 
I’ll have these things off his feet in a min- 
ute, sir, an’ it may be that she’ll be out 
here to see him.” 

“ There’s not much doubt of that, Cres- 
ton,” Mr. Dainty said, with a laugh, as he 
turned toward the house. He ran lightly 
up the steps, and, hurrying through the 
hall, joined the group in the sitting-room. 

Aunt Charlotte looked up with a smile 
as she completed the fairy story which she 
had been telling in the usual way, “ and 
they lived happy ever after.” 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 117 

“ You may all make believe that I have 
been telling a fine fairy-tale, and that I 
have just reached the place where I grant 
a wish. 

“ Dorothy, what is your dearest wish to- 
night? ” 

“ I wish, oh, hoiv I wish I could see my 
Romeo,’ ’ she said. 

“ Then come with me,” he said, gently. 

“ Do you mean it? Where shall I 
come? ” Dorothy said. 

“ With me, just follow me. Come, we 
will all go out to see Dorothy’s wish 
granted.” 

Hastily throwing light wraps about 
them, Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte 
followed, Mr. Dainty leading the way with 
Dorothy and Nancy on either side. How 
they wondered what it all meant! 

But when he turned into the path which 


118 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

led to the driveway, and then toward the 
stable, they knew that the pony must be 
waiting here for a greeting from Dorothy. 
She could no longer walk quietly along. 
With a little cry of delight she ran ahead, 
Nancy following, and there in the centre 
of the brightly lighted stable stood Ro- 
meo. 

The groom touched his hat, but Doro- 
thy ? s eyes were blinded with happy tears. 
She ran to the pony, and clasped her arms 
about his neck, saying as she had so often 
said before: 

“ Romeo, my Romeo, how I love you! ” 

When they had returned to the house, 
Mr. Dainty told them that a rough-looking 
man had returned the pony while he had 
been upon the piazza smoking, and that 
he had received the promised reward. He 
did not tell them of the man’s sullen man- 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 119 


ner, nor of the strange fact that the pony’s 
hoofs had been padded. Mrs. Dainty was 
easily frightened, and Aunt Charlotte was 
hardly less nervous, and, if they were told 
of the man’s unpleasant manner, they 
would think that he might loiter about the 
place, while Dorothy and Nancy would at 
once fear that the man had heard of their 
home from Nancy’s Uncle Steve, and that 
the two men were in league; that Uncle 
Steve might any day again attempt to steal 
Nancy. 

They questioned him as to the man’s 
appearance, Nancy especially being very 
eager to know exactly how he looked. 
Steve Ferris had been dark and swarthy, 
so when Mr. Dainty described the short, 
muscular, sandy-haired man, Nancy sighed 
wdth relief. 

That night, however, when she lay in 


120 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

her cosy chamber at the stone cottage, she 
thought again of the man who had re- 
turned the pony. Doubtless he had stolen 
it because he had believed that a reward 
would be offered. What a mean thing to 
do, and how like Uncle Steve. Then a 
thought came into her mind which made 
her shiver with fear. She felt that she 
could not stay alone; she must ask Aunt 
Charlotte about it. 

She crept across the hall and waited a 
moment before speaking, to learn if Aunt 
Charlotte were awake. If she was asleep, 
she would be brave and wait until morn- 
ing to talk with her, although she knew 
that she should not sleep until she had told 
her fear. 

Some one was moving about in the room. 
Nancy paused, then knocked upon the 
door. 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 121 


“ May I come in just a moment? ” she 
asked. 

The door was quickly opened. 

“ Why, Nancy, are you ill? ” Aunt Char- 
lotte asked. 

“ Oh, no, not ill, but I thought of some- 
thing that frightened me so that I couldn’t 
stay alone.” Aunt Charlotte sat down in 
a low chair and drew Nancy toward her. 

“ What is it that frightened you? I 
thought that you were asleep, and was 
moving about my room quietly so as not 
to waken you,” she said, kindly. Her 
voice was gentle, and she tried in every 
way to comfort Nancy. Indeed she suc- 
ceeded in cheering her, telling her that 
she was safe among those who loved her 
so dearly. 

But Nancy, although a little happier, 
still thought of Uncle Steve, and wondered 


122 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

if the man who had stolen the pony might 
be one of his friends. Aunt Charlotte saw 
that Nancy was timid. 

“You need not go back to your own 
room,” she said. “ You may stay with 
me, if you wish,” and Nancy gladly re- 
mained. 

When morning dawned she forgot her 
fear. The sunlight made the gardens so 
fair and bright that everything looked dif- 
ferent. Even the man whom Mr. Dainty 
had described seemed less to be feared. 
He had received the promised reward and 
had gone away. Why should she think 
of him again? 

Indeed, she had little time to think of 
anything except the fact that Vera Vane 
was to arrive that morning. 

Dorothy ran down to the cottage to call 
for Nancy. 


HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 123 

“ Come up and help me/’ she said, “ for 
I’ve such a lot of things to do before Yera 
comes.’ ’ 

“ I’ll help you,” Nancy said. “ What 
shall we do first? ” 

“ Her favorite color is pink, so mamma 
has given the pink chamber to her while 
she’s here,” said Dorothy, “ and I’m go- 
ing to fill some jars with pink roses. 
Come! We’ll gather them now.” 

Nancy needed no urging, and together 
they ran to the rose-bushes, gathering the 
freshest and fairest in bloom. 

When Vera arrived, warm and tired from 
her long ride in the cars, she was delighted 
with the lovely room. She said that it 
rested her to look at the pink roses with 
which the mantel and dressing-case were 
heaped, and was grateful to Dorothy and 
Nancy for placing them there. 


124 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

She was the same merry, fickle Vera 
whom they had first known during their 
summer at the shore. Later, in the city, 
she had been a true and loving friend to 
Dorothy. 

“ We’ll try not to mind if she soon gets 
tired of things, because she really can’t 
help it,” Dorothy had said. 

“ Yes, we’ll try,” Nancy replied, “ for 
when she is tired of one thing she’s sure 
to think of another.” 


CHAPTER VII 


vera’s prank 

X 7ERA proved to be a delightful guest. 

* She was as changeable as ever, and 
really merited the name “ Weather-vane/’ 
which her brother had given her. 

But, as Nancy had said, when she tired 
of one thing, she usually thought of an- 
other. The first days of her visit had 
passed gaily. She met Molly Merton and 
Flossie Barnet, whom she remembered, 
having met them at Dorothy’s home in 
the city, and she was glad to see them 
again. 

Yera was a pretty girl, tastefully 
dressed, and Nina and Jeanette Earl de- 

125 


126 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

cided at once that they liked her. They 
usually chose those friends who were the 
most finely dressed. 

They had had the gayest times together, 
and each day had seemed jollier than the 
one before, but one morning Vera declared 
it to be too warm for any sort of game. 
Indeed, the breeze was sultry, and Dorothy 
was wondering how Vera could be enter- 
tained on so hot a day when Vera an- 
swered the question for herself. 

u We might go out for a drive, and go 
’way off where it’s just countrified, where 
there are farms and cattle and barns and 
things,’ ’ she said, and she looked so eager 
that Dorothy thought it might be the best 
thing to do. If Vera so wished to go, she 
would surely enjoy it. 

Mrs. Dainty was driving with Aunt 
Charlotte, and what could be more enjoy- 


VERA’S PRANK 


127 


able on a hot morning than to ride over 
country roads and through sunny lanes, 
laughing and talking all the way? 

They did not hesitate a moment, but 
found the groom, and in ten minutes the 
pony and tiny carriage were at the door, 
the groom mounted and ready to follow 
at a reasonable distance. 

Yera thought that it would seem more 
of an adventure if he were not with them. 

“ Does he always ride behind you? ” she 
asked, impatiently. 

“ Always,” Dorothy said. “ Papa will 
not let me ride without him. Why, Vera, 
he doesn’t bother us. He’s with us so that 
nobody else shall be.” 

And when they were seated, and Doro- 
thy gathered up the reins, they felt that 
they were off for an adventure, for Yera 
had said: 


128 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ Let’s go out on some country road 
that you haven’t seen before,” and Doro- 
thy laughed and turned the pony toward 
a new road which was being made. 

“ I don’t know where this leads to,” 
she said, “ but with Creston with us we 
can’t get lost.” 

They soon found that the new road was 
too hot and dusty for pleasure, and when 
they came to a beautiful shady road where 
branches met overhead, they turned Ro- 
xneo, and the cool shade was delightful. 
Vera was charmed. 

“ Oh, I could ride here forever! ” she 
said. 

“ Forever! ” laughed Nancy. “ Oh, 
Vera, the idea of your doing one thing as 
long as that.” 

“ Laugh if you like,” Vera said, “ but 
just now I’m perfectly happy riding. It 


VERA’B PRANK 


129 


may happen that I’ll change my mind 
soon, but not just now.” 

“ You must not change your mind very 
soon,” said Dorothy, “ because we he a 
long way from home. You’d have to ride 
ever so much more before we could get 
back. We could turn around any time* if 
you’d like to, and go straight back to the 
house.” 

“ Indeed, I wouldn’t like to do that,” 
Vera replied. “ Instead, I say let’s go 
ever so much farther, it is so lovely out 
here in the country.” 

And now the houses were farther 
apart, and they passed broad acres 
bathed in sunlight, over which the blue 
sky seemed keeping watch, and many a 
little pool reflected the floating clouds, 
making them look even whiter because of 
the darker shadows in the water. 


130 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Dorothy and Nancy thought that they 
had never seen so lovely a spot, while 
Vera seemed even more charmed than 
they. 

“ Oh, let’s stop here awhile,” she cried. 
u We could let Creston take care of the 
pony, and we might sit down over there 
where those tall bushes make it shady. 
Come! ” 

Of course they did as Vera said. Vera’s 
friends usually obeyed her every whim. 
She had a way of talking about anything 
which she wished to do that made those 
who listened eager to do the same thing. 

The groom led his own horse and the 
pony toward a large tree which gave fine 
shade, and sat down upon the grass to wait 
until the party should be ready to turn 
homeward. 

At first Vera thought it very restful to 


VERA’S PRANK 


131 


pause in tlieir ride, and to sit there in the 
cool shade and tell stories, listen to the 
birds, and watch the butterflies, but after 
a time she thought it rather quiet amuse- 
ment. She looked across the fields and saw 
some roofs of houses and a spire. 

“ Where’s that? ” she asked. “ Is that 
a part of Merrivale? ” 

“ Why, that can’t be Merrivale, away 
over there,” said Nancy, as she looked at 
the roofs and chimneys toward which Vera 
pointed. 

“ Do you know, Creston? ” Dorothy 
asked. 

The groom walked over to where the 
girls were sitting 

“ That’s a little place called Stanton,” 
he said, “ but right there where those 
houses show through those trees is a part 
of Merrivale. Why, Miss Dorothy, you 


132 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


must remember the little store and res- 
taurant where Mrs. Grayson sometimes 
stops for little errands when she’s out driv- 
ing with Mrs. Dainty.” 

“ Oh, I know,” Dorothy said; “ we 
stopped there for a lunch one day. It 
was a funny little restaurant, but they 
served a nice lunch.” 

“ But we must have driven right round 
in a circle to reach that part of Merri- 
vale,” Nancy said, “ and that is the place, 
for I remember that tall, red building. 
The candy store is next to that.” 

“ Oh, now I know what I want,” said 
Yera. “ I want some bonbons, and I have 
my purse with me. Can’t Creston go over 
there and get some for me? It would 
be a regular picnic to sit here and eat 
them.” 

Dorothy hesitated. Vera would be pro- 


VERA'S PRANK 


133 


yoked if she was unwilling to send the 
groom, but they were in a lonely place, 
and Mr. Dainty had said that he wished 
the groom to be near at hand whenever 
they were out driving. But, as usual, 
Vera was unreasonable. 

“ Well, we’re not driving, we’re just 
sitting,” she said, “ and your papa said 
he must be with us whenever we were 
driving , so I don’t see why he can’t go.” 

“We could go around that way home,” 
said Nancy, “ and stop there at the store 
for the bonbons.” 

“ But perhaps by that time I sha’n’t 
wish for them, and I know that I want 
them now. We could have such a fine 
time out here if we just had a box of bon- 
bons.” 

“ Well — I don’t know if papa would 
like to have me send Creston over there, 


134 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

while we remain here,” Dorothy said, 
“ but if you so wish it — ” 

“ Oh, I do, I do,” Vera interrupted, and 
Dorothy told the groom to do Vera’s er- 
rand for her. 

“I’ll go as quick as I can, Miss Doro- 
thy,” he said, for he knew that she had 
not wished to send him. 

Vera knew that she should not have 
teased Dorothy, but she would not say 
so. She had wanted the groom to go, and 
he had gone. She watched him as he 
crossed the field, and wished that he might 
go faster. As if in answer to her thought, 
Nancy said: 

“ I hope Creston will be back soon; I 
think it’s lonely here. There’s nobody liv- 
ing near here, and nobody has passed since 
we came here.” 

“ Look! There’s some people now. 


VERA’S PRANK 


135 


Why, what gaudy colors! ” Dorothy said, 
as she pointed toward where, between the 
trees, gaily dressed figures could be seen 
approaching. 

“ Oh, keep still, do! Don’t let them see 
us,” cried Nancy, in sudden fear. “ They’re 
gipsies, don’t you see they are, Dorothy? 
Oh, I wish Creston was here! ” 

She shrank back toward some tall 
bushes, drawing Dorothy with her. 

“ Vera, Vera! ” she cried, “ do come 
back here with us; they’ll surely see 
you! ” 

“ I wish them to,” Vera coolly replied. 

“ But Nancy is afraid of them, and so 
am I,” Dorothy said, “ so do come over 
here with us. The pony is out of sight, 
and if you’ll just stay here with us, they’ll 
pass without seeing us.” 

“ Fraidie cats! Fraidie cats! ” cried 


136 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


Vera, and she laughed in a provoking way. 
“ You can keep out of sight if you choose,” 
she said, “ but I wish them to see me, for 
I mean to have my fortune told.” 

It was too late to again call to Vera to 
come back, for, as she ran out into the 
sunlight, she beckoned to a young gipsy, 
who left her companions to learn why Vera 
had wished to speak to her. 

From behind the bushes Dorothy and 
Nancy saw Vera offer her hand to the girl. 
They saw the other members of the wan- 
dering band pause to watch the fortune- 
teller, then turn toward the highway. 

“ They’re going, and they’ve not seen 
us,” Dorothy whispered. 

“ All but that one,” was Nancy’s whis- 
pered reply, pointing to the one who still 
held Vera’s hand. 

“ Where is Creston all this time? ” said 



From behind the bushes Dorothy and Nancy saw Vera 
offer her hand to the girl . — Page 136. 

































































































































































































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VERA’S PRANK 


137 


Dorothy. “ I wish I hadn’t sent him, and 
I wish he’d come back.” 

“ So do I,” Nancy said, “ and there he 
is, just jumping over the wall.” 

“ And the gipsy is saying something to 
Vera. Now she’s going,” whispered Doro- 
thy, “ and with Creston with us, we’ll not 
be afraid.” 

And when the young gipsy had told 
Vera’s fortune, she hurried away to join 
her party, wdiile Vera, with sparkling eyes, 
ran to her friends to tell what she had 
heard. 

“ Isn’t it great?” she said. “ Isn’t it 
fine? She says I’m to be a great singer, 
and you know I can hardly sing a note, 
and she says I’ll travel some day, and that 
right away I’ll disappear, and for awhile 
my friends won’t know where I am. What 
fun that would be if it came true! ” 


138 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ Oh, no, Vera, it wouldn’t be fun at 
all,” said Nancy. “ It’s horrid to disap- 
pear, and those who care for you just wild 
because they can’t find you. I know , and 
I wish you hadn’t asked her to tell your 
fortune.” 

“ You think it’s horrid because, when 
you disappeared, your wicked uncle stole 
you, and made you dance to earn his living. 
Now I know I wouldn’t like to live in his 
house, but I’m sure I’d have liked the 
dancing. I’ve always thought it was queer 
you didn’t. It must have been exciting, 
and I like to be in a whirl.” 

“ I wish she hadn’t told you you’d dis- 
appear soon,” Dorothy said. “ It fright- 
ens me to think of it.” 

“ Why, Dorothy Dainty! That’s the 
only amusing thing she said. I tell you 


VERA’S PRANK 


139 


it would be just fun to have everybody 
wondering and wondering where I was.” 

Creston came hurrying toward them 
with the box of bonbons. 

“ I got back as soon as I could,” he 
said, “ but it was farther than I thought, 
an’ when I went into the store it was full 
of customers an’ I had to wait.” 

“ I won’t let you leave me again when 
we’re out, for this time some gipsies came 
by, and we were frightened,” Dorothy said. 

“ You and Nancy were; I wasn’t,” said 
Vera, “ and, anyway, here’s the bonbons 
and they’re fine.” 

She gave some to the groom, because he 
had done the errand for her, and they 
then sat down to enjoy their treat. But 
when the bonbons had been eaten, Vera 
tossed the empty box aside and looked 
about her restlessly. 


140 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ What can we do now? ” she asked. 
“ I’m not ready to drive home yet, because 
it is so lovely here, but I don’t think I 
want to sit here and just talk. Let’s play 
Hide-and-Seek.” 

Dorothy thought it too warm for a romp, 
but Vera was her guest, so she agreed, 
and soon the three were hunting hiding- 
places and enjoying the fun in spite of the 
heat. 

Across the sunny fields came the tones 
of the town clock striking the noon hour. 

“ Twelve o’clock! We ought to be driv- 
ing home now,” said Dorothy, “ so as to be 
ready for lunch at one.” 

“ But Mrs. Dainty and Aunt Charlotte 
aren’t to be home at the lunch hour, so I 
should think we might have our lunch 
whenever we choose,” Yera said. 

“ Mamma always says, ‘ Have your 


VERA’S PRANK 


141 


lunch at lunch-time whether I am at home 
or not.’ It makes it hard for the servants 
if we’re not there for lunch when they 
have it ready,” Dorothy said. 

“ I shouldn’t think of that. So let me 
hide once more, and then we’ll go. I’ll 
hide, and you and Nancy can hunt for 
me. Say, I’m going to disappear! ” said 
Vera. 

“ Oh, Vera, don’t say that,” said Doro- 
thy, in sudden fear. 

“ But I am, and you must hunt for me, 
you two, but you won’t find me. Now, 
blind your eyes; no peeking! ” she said, 
and ran swiftly to a place which she had 
thought of when she had been listening 
to what the gipsy had to say. 

As she hurried past the groom, the mare, 
always timid, was startled, and it was 
a task for the man to calm her, and 


142 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

when she once more stood quietly beside 
the pony, Vera was out of sight. 

Creston wondered where she had gone, 
and why she had been in such haste. 

“ I’ve not heard Vera call, have you? ” 
Dorothy asked. 

“ Once I thought I heard her,” Nancy 
said, “ but she must be ready now. Let’s 
commence to hunt for her.” 

And how they did search for her! Be- 
hind the tree-trunks and tall clumps of 
bushes, over beyond a huge rock, and back 
again to look in every place where they 
had looked before, yet no Vera could they 
find. Creston could not say that he had 
seen her. 

“ She ran past me,” he said, “ and 
scared the mare, an’ when the mare was 
quiet, she was out of sight.” 

“ You’ll have to come and help us to 


VERA’S PRANK 


143 


find her,” Dorothy said, “ for we must be 
getting home by one.” 

“ Indeed, we can’t do that, Miss Doro- 
thy,” Creston replied, “ for it’s quarter 
to one now, and I’ll see what we can do.” 

He was always willing to please Doro- 
thy, and then there was the fine lunch to 
be served in the servants’ hall! He did 
not care to be late to that. So he started 
with a will to search for her, while Doro- 
thy and Nancy looked in possible and im- 
possible places for the missing Vera, but 
no Yera could be found. 

If they had been at the stone house, 
where every hiding-place was known, it 
would have been a different matter, for, 
sooner or later, Vera would be found, or 
would herself appear to laugh at them. 
But in the lovely but lonely spot it was 
different, so different. 


144 DOROTHY. DAINTY AT HOME 


Again and again they called to her to 
return, but received no reply. The groom 
was now as frightened as were the girls. 
Lustily he shouted: 

“ Miss Yera! Miss Vera! We’ll be 
goin’ without you if you don’t hurry 
back! ” Only the echoes answered, and 
the man’s face turned pale. 

6 6 It’s no use stayin’ here an’ hollerin’,” 
he said, “ for if she was near us we’d have 
found her, and if somethin’s happened to 
her there ’d ought ter be somebody more 
than us here.” 

“ What shall we do? ” wailed Dorothy, 
clinging to Nancy, who could think of no 
comforting word to say. 

“ I’ll shout again, an’ if that don’t fetch 
her, we’ll have to drive home for help the 
quickest way we know how.” 


CHAPTER VIII 

WHERE THEY FOUND HER 

A ND where was Vera? When they had 
first entered the field, she had seen 
a ditch or trench which she thought would 
make a fine hiding-place. She had not 
spoken of it, because she thought if they 
chose to play “ Hide-and-Seek,” she would 
hide there, and she believed that they 
would not think to look there for her. So 
when the gipsy had said that she would 
disappear, she thought of the ditch, and 
decided to hide in it. 

As soon as Dorothy and Nancy had 
blinded their eyes, she ran across the field, 
and as the groom was busy calming the 

145 


146 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

frightened horse, he did not see in which 
direction she ran. She hurried to the 
ditch, saw that it was dry, and, pushing 
aside the tall weeds, jumped in, then 
crouched there, laughing to think how 
completely she was hidden. 

It was indeed a fine hiding-place, and, 
between the tall weeds which bordered the 
ditch, she could see Dorothy running one 
way and Nancy another. It was rare fun 
for a time to hide where no one could find 
one, but soon she became restless. The 
sun was hot, and her cramped position 
tiresome. She could run out and laugh 
at them, but she did not wish to do that. 
Had she not said that she would disap- 
pear, and that they would not be able to 
find her? 

She turned around as well as she could, 
and looked toward the road. It was shady 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 147 


out there. In a moment she had climbed 
out of the ditch, and, hidden by a clump 
of bushes, made her way over the low wall 
and out upon the road. 

“ My! This is better,” she said, and 
she drew a long breath as the fresh breeze 
rustled the leaves. She was wondering 
what she would do next, when a familiar 
sound made her turn quickly. Yes, there 
was an electric car, and its sign said 
“ Merrivale.” 

To be sure it was going the wrong way, 
but would there not be one soon which 
would be going toward the town? It was 
across another field, and on a road which 
ran parallel with the one on which she was 
standing, but it was not far to go, and 
what a joke! 

On the swift-running car she would 


148 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

reach the avenue, would get off, and run to 
the stone house. 

“ I should get there long before they 
do,” she said. “ I do believe I should 
reach the house while they are still hunt- 
ing for me.” 

The smart ringing of the bell caused 
her to look up. Yes, there was the red 
car coming along. She had been crossing 
the field while she had been deciding what 
to do, and was just in time for the car 
for Merrivale. 

It was an open car, and she climbed 
up on the step, and along to the front seat. 
Oh, how cool it was after being so long in 
a hot, sunny ditch! The breeze blew her 
hair back from her flushed face. She took 
off her hat and laid it in her lap. 

“ This is fine! ” she said to herself, 
never giving a thought to the hot, tired 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 149 

friends who were still searching for her. 
Vera was not unkind, or rather, she did 
not intend to be. She was thoughtless, 
and when she saw an opportunity for a 
joke, she never gave a moment’s thought 
to the discomfort which it gave to others. 
She was as happy and contented, as the 
car sped along, as if no one were incon- 
venienced. Once she laughed, as she won- 
dered if they were still hunting. 

When the car stopped at the avenue, 
Vera jumped off, ran up to the house, and 
in at the gate. 

The gardener looked up in surprise to 
see Vera returning alone. 

“ Is Dorothy home yet? ” she asked. 

“ No, not yet,” John replied, “an’ why 
d’ye be cornin’ alone? ” 

“ That is my joke,” Vera answered, 
pertly. 


150 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ An’ O’ll bet if Oi knew, Oi’d not think 
much of the joke,” he muttered, as he 
picked up his tools and walked away to 
another part of the garden. 

Vera was a bright, merry girl, but the 
servants did not take kindly to her pert 
ways. 

She lingered near the driveway that she 
might hear the carriage when it neared the 
gate. 

It was not a joke to Dorothy that Vera 
could not be found, and Nancy was not 
less anxious, while the groom’s face 
plainly showed the concern which he felt. 
And when at last it seemed useless to 
search longer, Creston hurried them into 
the carriage and mounted his own horse, 
saying: 

“ Drive pretty lively, Miss Dorothy, an’ 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 151 


when I’ve seen ye safely home, I’ll come 
back with a nmnber of men an’ we’ll scour 
wood an’ field. Ye’ll be sick if ye stay 
huntin’ in this hot sun.” 

At first Dorothy stoutly refused to 
leave for home without Yera, but Greston 
explained that a number of men could do 
more than they could possibly do toward 
finding Yera. At last she became so 
frightened that she yielded, and never 
before had Romeo gone over the road at 
such a lively pace! 

He was willing to run, for he knew that 
he was going toward home, and he knew 
also that he wanted his dinner. Dorothy 
had forgotten that she had had no lunch, 
for in her fear for Yera she could think 
of nothing else. 

As they neared the house, the pony 


152 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

rushed at top speed, and in at the gate- 
way. 

“ Home first! Home first! ” came the 
greeting in Vera’s well-known voice, fol- 
lowed by a rippling peal of laughter. 

“ Oh, Vera, Vera! ” Dorothy cried, and 
leaned back in the carriage so white that 
even Vera was frightened. 

“ Why, Dorothy, dear! Did I scare 
you so when I jumped out at you? I only 
meant to surprise you.” 

“ I’d advise ye, Miss Vera, if I may be 
so bold, not ter scare yer friends twicet 
in a day. They can’t stand it,” said 
Creston. 

He was a servant who knew his place, 
but, like all the servants on the place, he 
worshipped Dorothy, and he was angry to 
see her made ill by a careless, thoughtless 
friend. 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 153 

At any other time Vera would have 
resented his speech, but for once she saw 
that she had carried a joke too far, and 
she was sorry, truly, deeply sorry that she 
had caused Dorothy such alarm. 

She turned to Nancy, but found no com- 
fort there, for Nancy’s face was almost as 
pale as Dorothy’s. 

It was a very quiet Vera who entered 
the house with Dorothy, telling her all 
the way how sorry she was for her foolish 
prank. 

“ For I do love you, Dorothy,” she said, 
“ and I only meant to tease, not to 
frighten you. I thought it a joke to hide 
and reach home first. It was a joke, but 
it was a stupid one, and I’ll never play 
one like it again.” 

“ We’ll have some lunch, and perhaps 


154 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

I shall feel all right after that,” Dorothy 
said, gently. 

Although Vera was at fault, Dorothy 
pitied her distress, and even Nancy, who 
was so angry that Dorothy should have 
been so badly frightened, looked into 
Vera’s eyes and kept back the sharp 
words which she had intended to say. 

It was a quiet little lunch party which 
gathered around the table and afterward 
found its way out on the piazza. The air 
was cooler now, and Dorothy, with the 
lunch and rest, looked like herself. Nancy 
kept close beside her, and Vera sat with 
her arm about her. It was strange what 
opposite traits Vera possessed. She was 
naturally loving, yet she could tease until 
she saw that she had hurt a friend, when 
she would at once become all penitence and 
pity. 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 155 


It always seemed easy to forgive Vera, 
she was so truly sorry for her fault that 
one might think that she never intended 
to tease again. She was such a charm- 
ing playmate, too, always thinking of 
something which was new and amusing, 
so that her friends were never dull when 
she was with them. 

She was sitting upon the long piazza 
seat, swinging her feet and furtively 
watching Dorothy. 

At last she spoke: 

“ We’re too warm and tired to play any- 
thing just now,” she said, “ but I’ll tell 
you something fine that I’ve thought of. 
It truly is fine,” she continued, “ and the 
best of it is that we can have all the girls 
in it. Want me to tell about it now, Doro- 
thy, or wait till to-morrow? ” 

“ Oh, tell it now,” said Dorothy. 


156 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ It won’t tire Dorothy to hear some- 
thing now,” Nancy added. 

Vera looked at the two eager faces 
and laughed with delight. She knew her 
power, and she enjoyed it. It was such 
fun to be able to interest her friends in 
whatever she wished to do. 

“ Something that I saw this morning 
made me think of the fine thing I’ll tell 
you about,” Vera said, nodding her head 
and looking as if about to reveal a gen- 
uine mystery. 

“ What, out there in that field where we 
ate the bonbons? ” said Nancy. 

“ No, indeed! ” said Vera, “ not out in 
that hot little sunny field. No, it was here 
in this garden, and I saw it while I was 
waiting for you to come home.” 

“ Oh, Vera, hurry and tell us what it is,” 
said Nancy. 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 157 

“ Well, it’s a private letter-box! ” 

“ A what? ” questioned Dorothy. 

“ A private letter-box, I said, and if 
you 11 come down to the gateway 111 show 
it to you,” Vera said. 

She was laughing, and they wondered 
if she had invented a new plan for teas- 
ing them. 

She ran on ahead, and turned to see if 
they were coming with her. 

They were following, and Vera seemed 
to be so excited that they knew that she 
certainly was in earnest. She hurried 
down the driveway, nearly to the gate, 
then turned to the right, and, with her 
back to the stone wall, stood waiting for 
Dorothy and Nancy. 

“ Now first 111 tell you something, and 
then 111 show you something,” she said. 
(< In a story I read once, a girl lived in 


158 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


a stone castle. She was a princess, I think, 
and she had a secret letter-box in the wall 
that was built around her garden, and all 
the princes that loved her put their letters 
to her in the box. Nobody else knew any- 
thing about it. Now we aren’t princesses, 
and we don’t know any princes, but we 
girls could have lots of fun with just such 
a secret box, couldn’t we?” 

u A secret letter-box! My, but how 
could we? ” said Nancy. 

“ Yes, that’s just it, how could we? ” 
questioned Dorothy. 

Without answering their questions, Yera 
continued: 

“ And I saw the very place for one right 
here in this wall just behind where I’m 
standing. Look! ” 

She stepped aside, and Dorothy and 
Nancy leaned forward, pushing aside a 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 159 


tiny bush which hid the spot to which 
Vera was pointing. There it was! Just 
as she had said, an opening in the wall 
where a stone had become loosened and 
had rolled to the ground, where behind 
the little bush it lay. 

“ Put your hand in and feel what a fine 
place it is for a letter-box/ ’ said Vera. 

Nancy thrust her arm into the opening, 
reaching down until her hand touched a 
flat stone. 

“ Fine! ” she cried; 1 i it’s a perfect let- 
ter-box/ ’ 

Next came the question as to how many 
girls should be invited to use the little 
secret mail-box. 

“ We’ll tell Molly and Flossie the first 
thing,” Dorothy said, “ and I suppose 
Nina and Jeanette, too.” 

66 If we tell Nina and Jeanette, we’ll 




160 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

have to tell Katy Dean,” said Nancy, “ she 
lives so near them, and if she knows we 
had a secret and didn’t let her into it, of 
course she’d feel hurt.” 

“ If you tell everybody about it, it won’t 
be much of a secret,” said Yera. “ I 
heard mamma say that a secret was a 
secret so long as two knew and kept it, 
but that a third person in it made it just 
no secret at all. Now there’s three of us, 
and with Molly and Flossie and Nina and 
Jeanette and Katy, there’ll be eight in the 
secret, and I wonder what mamma would 
say to that. I guess she’d laugh at us, 
and ask us how long it would be a secret 
when we’re letting the whole town into 
it.” 

“ "Why, Yera, we aren’t telling every 
one in town. We haven’t told any one 
yet, but when we do, we can’t let a few 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 161 

friends in and keep the others out. Just 
think how they’d feel.” 

“ Well, it’s your letter-box and your 
garden, so you can tell as many as you 
want to, but if ’twas mine, I think four 
would be a crowd,” Vera said. 

“ And there’s Arabella,” said Nancy. 

“ Well, — she isn’t at home now,” Doro- 
thy said, and Nancy knew that Dorothy 
was glad that, for a time at least, the 
secret could be enjoyed without sharing 
it with the unpleasant little opposite 
neighbor. 

In the days which followed there were 
scores of letters written. To be sure, the 
playmates were such near neighbors that 
they could at any time meet and say what- 
ever they wished, instead of writing, but 
think what fun it was to be able to send 
a letter to a friend, not through a common 


162 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


post-office, but in a letter-box so secret 
that only the writers of the letters knew 
about it. 

There was never any time set for mail- 
ing or receiving letters. One could, at any 
hour, watch for a time when no one was 
passing or loitering near the gateway, and 
then run down to the wall, push the 
branches of the tiny bush aside, and 
reach for the letters which were sure to 
be there. 

Early each morning Dorothy and Nancy 
would run down to the box, take out the 
letters, keep those which were written to 
them, and replace those which were in- 
tended for the other girls. 

Molly and Flossie thought it a wonder- 
ful secret. Nina and Jeanette were quite 
as delighted, while Katy Dean said that 
she knew that no one ever had such a fine 


WHERE THEY FOUND HER 163 


secret, or one which was so hard to keep 
from telling. 

Sometimes a wee box of candy or a tiny 
parcel of nuts was sent in place of a letter, 
and always it was exciting to see how large 
the mail would be. 

One morning Dorothy ran down to the 
letter-box, expecting to find it about half- 
full. She pushed the bush aside, and 
peeped in. There were no letters in sight. 
A moment she paused, and then thrust her 
hand into the hole. When she drew it 
out it was empty! In haste she ran to tell 
Nancy. 

“ Oh, Nancy, what do you think? 
There ’s not a single letter in our box! 
You heard Molly tell me last night that 
she had just dropped one in, and she said 
that Jeanette had put one in just before.” 

Nancy’s eyes were round with surprise, 


164 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ Why, how could they get out? ” she 
said, “ for besides those letters Katy Dean 
told Molly that she was going to put a 
box of candy in it for us. She said she 
wrote ‘ For Dorothy and Nancy ’ on it.” 

“ Well, there’s nothing in there now,” 
said Dorothy. 

Nancy ran to peep in. It was true; there 
was nothing in the letter-box. 


CHAPTER IX 

A TRIP TO THE SHORE 

V ERA came running across the lawn. 

“ What is it? ” she called; “ can’t 
you get the letters out? ” 

“ There aren’t any to get out,” Dorothy 
said. 

“ Isn’t it queer? ” said Nancy. 

“ Queer! ” Vera cried, “ queer! Well, 
I guess not. If there are no letters in 
there, somebody got here first and took 
them out! ” 

“ Why, Vera Vane! Who’d be so mean 
as that? ” said Dorothy. 

“ The one who took the letters,” Vera 
answered, coolly. u Why, Dorothy,” she 

165 


166 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

continued, “ it isn’t any use to look like 
that. If the girls put the letters in, and 
there aren’t any there now , of course some- 
body took them out.” 

Vera spoke sharply, and convinced her 
listeners. 

“ But nobody we know would do such a 
thing,” Nancy said. 

“ P’r’aps it’s somebody you don’t 
know,” was the quick reply. 

It was useless to sit looking at the empty 
letter-box, so the three playmates turned 
toward the grove, and there on the rustic 
seat they sat down to talk the matter over. 
They all agreed that something should 
be done, but no one could think what to 
do. 

“We don’t even know who took them,” 
Nancy said. 

“ And we ought to tell the other girls, 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 


167 


or they’ll be putting more letters there for 
somebody to take,” Dorothy said. 

“ Let’s run over to Molly’s and tell her 
now. See who’ll get there first,” cried 
Nancy, and she flew down the walk, fol- 
lowed by Dorothy and Vera. She was a 
swift runner, and she reached the gate 
much ahead of the other girls. She ran 
to the wall, and she could not have told 
why she peeped over, but what she saw 
made her turn and hold up her finger to 
tell the girls to come silently to where she 
was standing. Softly they tiptoed to the 
wall and looked over. 

What a sight! 

There was no longer any mystery about 
the stolen letters. 

Upon the ground sat Chub, his face 
smeared with the chocolates which he had 
been ravenously eating. The half-empty 


168 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

box was clutched firmly in his left hand, 
while with his right he was trying to force 
a huge bonbon into his already well-filled 
mouth. 

“ The the ain’t no uthe,” he muttered, 
as he flung a handful of letters from him. 

“ I can’t read their letterth, but I can 
eat their candy.” 

“ You horrid little boy! ” exclaimed 
Nancy, no longer able to keep silent. 

“ You perfectly horrid boy! ” cried 
Yera, her voice shrill with anger. 

And Chub? 

Not an instant did he waste in thinking 
what to do. Grasping the candy-box 
tightly, and holding one arm above his 
head, as if to ward off a blow, he bolted 
down the avenue, roaring with the full 
strength of his lungs : 

“ The thcoop-net! The thcoop-net! ” 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 


169 


Never once did he turn to see if any one 
was chasing him, so sure was he that he 
was being followed, for he never doubted 
that the gardener with his net was ready 
at any moment to snatch him. 

The three girls stood watching the fly- 
ing figure, whose pudgy legs and clumsy 
feet kicked up a cloud of dust so thick that 
it nearly hid him from sight. If the dust 
obscured the figure, it could not stifle the 
lusty voice, and even when he had reached 
the bend of the avenue, they heard his 
frightened scream: 

“ Oh, ow! The thcoop-net! ” 

The girls turned, each looking to see 
what the others had to say. For a moment 
neither spoke, then how they laughed! 
The little rascal had been such a coward, 
screaming and running away when no one 
was chasing him, and his clumsy figure had 


170 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


scampered down the avenue at such a ridic- 
ulous gait that they could not forget how 
comical a spectacle they had seen. It was 
Vera who first spoke: 

“ I don’t care,” she said. “ I was get- 
ting tired of it, anyway; we’ve had it 
quite a while.” 

“ Oh, Vera, how queer to be so soon 
tired of your letter-box. Why, it’s just 
no time since we first had it,” Dorothy 
said, laughing as she spoke. 

“ Queer! ” said Vera, “ queer did you 
say? Why we’ve had it as much as a 
week, and even a week is long enough for 
me to tire of a thing.” 

But flighty and changeful as she was 
regarding her pleasures, she was constant 
and true to her friends. 

She loved Dorothy and Nancy, and she 
wished that she might always be near 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 


171 


them, so when Mrs. Vane wrote, inviting 
them to return with Vera and for a time 
be her guests at the “ Weathervane,” 
Vera’s delight was boundless. 

If Vera was eager for their visit, Doro- 
thy and Nancy were no less excited, and 
when the day for their departure arrived, 
the three friends were ready and waiting 
for the carriage a full half-hour before it 
was tune for them to go. 

Mrs. Dainty’s maid accompanied them, 
and when the car-ride was ended and the 
long trip in the steamer had been enjoyed, 
she looked at the lively trio and breathed 
a sigh of relief that they were safely 
landed upon the pier. 

Dorothy was gentle, and Nancy always 
tractable, but Vera rarely yielded to guid- 
ance, and the maid had been half- wild with 
anxiety during the trip. 


172 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ Miss Vera, yell not be leanin’ out the 
winder,” she had said, or, “ Indeed, Miss 
Vera, if ye lean way over the railin’, ye’ll 
be in the water, head first, an’ me responsi- 
ble fer yer,” she added. 

Ah, there was the light phaeton await- 
ing them, Mrs. Vane’s coachman standing 
beside the handsome horse immovable as 
a liveried statue. 

As they bowled along the broad beach, 
Vera whispered to Dorothy: 

“ We had to have your maid with us all 
the way, and Thomas is with us now, be- 
cause mamma won’t let me drive Flash- 
light, but to-morrow we’ll be free, and just 
see what we’ll do! ” 

Never was there a more genial host than 
Robert Vane, nor a more delightful hostess 
than his charming wife. They were eager 
to give pleasure to their guests, and were 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 


173 


as happy in entertaining Vera’s friends as 
their own. Every day a new pleasure 
awaited them, and Dorothy and Nancy 
awoke each morning wondering what de- 
lightful plan had been made for the day. 

One morning Vera, on her way to the 
dining-room, paused on the stairway to 
tell of a charming engagement for the 
forenoon. 

“ I couldn’t wait to tell you,” she said, 
“ for I’m just wild about it myself, and 
I knew you’d be. We’re to drive over to 
that point of land that we’ve seen when 
we’ve been sitting on the cliff. We’re to 
have dinner at the hotel, everybody we 
know will be there, and after dinner we’ll 
see the races. Do hurry and come down.” 

She had told all the news in a shrill, 
excited voice, and, without waiting for a 
reply, had hurried down the stairs to the 


174 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

dining-room. Dorothy and Nancy soon 
followed her, and the trio sat by the win- 
dow, talking of the delightful trip and 
looking far out to where the tiny point of 
land gleamed in the sunlight. They had 
wondered how it would look if one were 
out there to see it; soon they were to stand 
upon the little sun-kissed point of land 
which they had dreamed of. 

“ Breakfast is late,” said Vera, her red 
lips pouting in displeasure. “ Mamma is 
not down yet, and papa has not come in 
from his early walk, but that isn’t why 
we’re waiting. It’s because Rob went out 
sailing before daylight. I do believe they 
hold their breath when Rob doesn’t re- 
turn at the very hour he says he will.” 

“ Why, Vera,” said Dorothy, her blue 
eyes showing her surprise, “ aren’t you 
anxious that Rob hasn’t yet come in? ” 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 175 

“ No, indeed, of course not,” Vera an- 
swered. “ It’s likely he’s safe. He’s late 
because he’s late, that’s all. Come! 
There’s no such thing as guessing when 
breakfast will be served, so let’s go out 
for a run on the beach.” 

Half an hour later Mrs. Yane entered 
the dining-room, and was surprised to find 
no one there. She had heard the merry 
chatter, but did not realize that for thirty 
minutes the room had been silent. She 
believed that they were in some other part 
of the house and would soon reappear. 

She sat down by the window and gazed 
out at the sea, her anxiety for Rob making 
her for the moment forget that Vera was 
not with her. The clock chimed the hour, 
and she started as if awaking from a 
dream. 


176 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Where was Rob, and, oh, where was 
Vera? Where were her friends? 

A search of the house revealed nothing, 
nor were there slightest sounds of laugh- 
ter in the garden. The butler had looked 
in every possible place, and returning to 
Mrs. Vane, reported that they were not 
to be seen, and that repeated shouting 
brought no reply. 

It was Vera’s restlessness which had led 
her to coax her friends out for a romp on 
the beach. She well knew that at the 
“ Weathervane 99 breakfast was the first 
thing to be thought of, and that Mrs. Vane 
expected all members of the family to be 
in the dining-room when the clock-hands 
marked the hour of eight, but she settled 
the matter for herself with this strange 
reasoning: 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 177 

“ Rob knows as well as I do that we’re 
to have breakfast before going out, and he 
went off, so why shouldn’t I? ” 

They walked along the beach, sometimes 
stopping to pick up a shell, or a bit of sea- 
weed; Dorothy and Nancy listening while 
Vera described the pleasure trip which had 
been arranged for the day. 

“ And we’ll go, rain or shine,” she said. 
“ No, that isn’t so, for now I remember 
mamma said, 4 if it is fair,’ but of course 
it will be.” 

“ P’r’aps it ’ll be sunny later, but the 
sky looks queer now,” said Nancy. “ Just 
look out there! ” 

“ Pooh! Those are just wind clouds,” 
Yera replied. “ By the time we are home 
and eating breakfast, the sun’ll be out. 
See if it isn’t. I’m hungry now,” she 
added, “ so let’s have a race down the 


178 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

beach, and then we’ll go back to the 
4 Weathervane.’ 

“ Beady? ” she questioned, then slowly 
she counted: 

“ One, two, three! ” 

They were off like the wind. Dorothy 
and Nancy were hatless, but Vera had felt 
it impossible to go out without wearing the 
showy hat which the milliner had sent to 
the house the night before. It was not suit- 
able for a morning romp, and its huge brim 
caught the wind and tossed the blue os- 
trich plumes about as if trying to snatch 
them from the hat. 

Impatiently Vera twitched it from her 
head, intending to run with it in her hand, 
but the rough wind tore it from her grasp, 
and on the dancing waves it floated like a 
little boat with blue sails catching the 
wind. 



AmyB rooks. 


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“ One, two, three ! ” They were off like the wind. — Page 178. 





























































A TRIP TO THE SHORE 


179 


A bit of rocky beach, like a tiny prom- 
ontory, made out into the water, and, see- 
ing that the hat was floating toward its 
point, Vera ran out over the rough crags, 
calling to Dorothy and Nancy to follow. 

A moment they hesitated. The rocks 
looked wet and slippery, but Vera called 
to them so shrilly that, although half- 
afraid, they followed her. 

4 4 Why didn’t you come the minute I 
called to you? ” she cried. “ Didn’t you 
see that my lovely new hat was floating 
this way? You must help me get it now.” 

Vera was angry, and plainly showed her 
displeasure, so, although the wet rocks 
slanting toward the water looked like a 
perilous foothold, Nancy crouched upon 
them, ready to reach out for the floating 
hat. Dorothy knelt beside her, and as they 
watched the blue plumes and the fluttering 


180 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

lace and ribbons, it seemed as if the pretty 
hat was playing with them. 

Upon the crest of one tiny wave it would 
dance swiftly toward them, when, as they 
reached for it, another wave would carry 
it out of reach. 

“ Reach out now, Nancy! ” Vera cried. 
“ It’s coming this way, and I must have 
it! ” 

With her left hand holding firmly to a 
large rock, Nancy extended her right 
toward the hat, which dipped and danced 
as if an imp were under it. 

“ Just reach out this time, Nancy, and 
you’ll surely get it. Quick now, while I 
hold you by your skirts. Quick! ” cried 
Vera, and Nancy did her best, but, al- 
though the hat floated quite near, not even 
the tips of her fingers would touch it. 

“We must get it,” Vera insisted. 


A TRIP TO TEE SHORE 181 

“ Mamma isn’t often angry, but she will be 
this time if I lose the hat that only came 
home last night. J ust think, I haven’t worn 
it anywhere yet. Oh, oh, just see! It’s 
floating away now! What shall I do? ” 

She clasped her hands, and turned her 
head so as not to see the blue plumes flut- 
tering in the breeze which was driving it 
out of reach. Then, like a flash, she turned 
and commenced to make her way over the 
rocks toward the shore. 

“ Come! ” she cried, “ come and I’ll tell 
you what we’ll do.” 

Quickly they followed her, glad to be 
turning toward the shore, but Vera had no 
idea of returning to the “ Weathervane.” 
She had a better plan, she thought. 

On the opposite side of the ledge a huge 
stake had been driven far down into the 
sand. A short rope was tied to it, and at 


182 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

the end of that rope rocked and swayed 
a tiny boat. Two small, light oars lay in 
it, and Vera ran toward it, calling to Doro- 
thy and Nancy to follow. 

“ What are you going to do? ” shouted 
Nancy, but Vera ran on ahead and seemed 
not to hear her, for she made no reply. 

They soon saw what she intended to do. 
The waves had beached the little boat, and 
Vera clambered into it, calling impatiently 
to them to follow. 

“ Oh, Vera, I can’t, mamma wouldn’t 
like it! ” Dorothy cried. 

“ Well, you’re my company, and you 
ought to be nice. I’ve just got to get my 
. hat, and I can’t reach it from the rocks. 
I’m going after it in this boat, and you 
and Nancy must help me.” 

“ But you got into a horrid scrape once 
when you went off in a boat,” said Nancy. 


A TRIP TO THE SHORE 


183 


“ Oh, that time was different/ ’ Vera 
hastened to say; “ there were no oars in 
the boat, and what could I do? This boat 
has two nice little oars, and, anyway, I’m 
going. I’ll row, and you two can reach 
out for my hat. Come! I can’t wait. See 
how fast the hat is floating! You’ll not 
be very nice if you won’t help me.” 

Dorothy looked into Nancy’s dark eyes. 

“ Ought we to go? ” she asked. 

“ Are we rude not to? ” questioned 
Nancy. 

“ Hurry! I can’t hold on to the oars 
and pick up my hat, so you’ll have to come 
with me,” snapped Vera. 

“ I don’t believe we ought, but we seem 
to have to,” whispered Dorothy, as she 
turned toward the boat, and without a 
word Nancy followed. 


CHAPTER X 


WITH THE TIDE 



ND now we are in, who’s going to 


push us off? ” Vera asked, then, 
without waiting to be answered, she 
grasped one of the light oars, intending 
to thrust it into the sand and thus push 
off from the shore. 

The boat was but barely on the sand, 
and the little waves which lapped one side 
of the keel were doing their best to float 
her, so it needed but one thrust of the 
oar to send it out into the water. 

Boldly she struck out toward the sand, 
but the light oar wedged fast between two 
rugged rocks and snapped; only two- 


184 


WITH THE TIDE 


185 


thirds of the oar remained in her hand 
when the boat sped out on the waves. 
The breaking of the oar threw Yera back 
into the boat. 

Dorothy, now thoroughly frightened, 
sat trembling and very pale, and Nancy, 
seeing her blue eyes wide with terror, 
spoke the first thought which came into 
her mind. 

“ Just look at Dorothy! ” she said. 
“ Oh, I wish we hadn’t come a step.” 

“ Pooh! There’s nothing to be fright- 
ened at,” Vera said, scrambling to her 
seat and taking a firm hold on the oars. 

“ Rob has taught me to row, and in two 
minutes we’ll catch up with my hat, pick 
it up, and before you know it we’ll be 
back on shore and running up the beach 
to the Weathervane.” 

“ It will be more than two minutes, 


186 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Vera Vane,” Nancy said, “ for we are no- 
where near your hat yet, and you’ve only 
one oar and half of another to row with.” 

“ That’s all right,” replied Vera; “ the 
oars were pretty heavy, and the piece that 
broke off makes one of them ever so much 
lighter.” 

Dorothy said never a word. She was 
always timid when on the water, and it 
seemed to her that with only Vera at the 
oars, there was but little hope of safely 
reaching land. Nancy shared the fear, but 
she strove bravely, for Dorothy’s sake, 
to hide her terror, trying not to catch 
her breath when they rose on the crest of 
one wave, and stifling a scream when the 
boat floated down into the cradle of an- 
other. 

Vera seemed to be doing great work 
with her oars, and she talked excitedly 


WITH THE TIDE 


187 


of the strength of her arms, but the truth 
was that the tide was coming in, so that, 
while one stroke would take the little boat 
from the shore, the next incoming wave 
would toss it back toward the sand. She 
had not sufficient strength to row against 
the tide. 

For a time the three were silent. Yera 
knew that they were making but little 
headway, but she was not willing to admit 
it, so she set her lips firmly and continued 
to pull at the oars. Dorothy watched 
Yera, while Nancy watched the clouds 
which were piling higher and higher in 
gray, smoky masses. It was Dorothy who 
first spoke. 

“ Oh, let’s go back,” she said; “ do let’s 
go back, Yera. Your hat isn’t anywhere 
to be seen, and just look at the sky! ” 

“ It does look as if there was going to 


188 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

be a storm right away,” Nancy said, “ and 
truly you must take us back, Vera.” 

“ As if I hadn’t been trying to! ” 
snapped Vera, her patience quite worn out 
with the effort which she had been making. 

“ Why, we thought you were trying to 
row out to sea! ” replied Dorothy. 

“ And so I w as, but when I saw that my 
hat was out of sight, I began to try to row 
back; first this horrid boat wouldn’t leave 
the shore, and now it won’t return.” 

As she spoke, Vera tugged even harder 
at the oars, but her effort only caused the 
boat to rock, and not an inch nearer to the 
shore would it go. Every incoming wave 
drew the little boat toward the shore, while 
an eddy caused by rocks below the surface 
pushed it away from the sandy beach. 

The clouds grew heavier, and Nancy, 
looking up at the dark, baggy masses, held 


WITH THE TIDE 


189 


out her hand just in time to catch a big 
rain-drop. 

“ It’s raining! ” she cried, and even as 
she spoke the big drops came pattering 
down upon them. Vera’s arms were ach- 
ing with her useless work at the oars. 
Nancy was desperate. Dorothy’s pale 
cheeks and quivering lips made her wild 
to say some brave, comforting word, but 
what could she say? She was stronger 
than Dorothy, but she was quite as fright- 
ened, while Vera showed plainly that the 
courage which she had boasted was fast 
disappearing. She had urged them to get 
into the boat, and had rowed them from 
the shore, and she was determined to get 
them safely back, but could she do it? 

“ Let me have one oar,” Nancy said, 
and Vera was glad of her help. For a 
moment Dorothy’s sweet face brightened. 


190 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


She believed that Nancy could do almost 
anything, and that with one oar in her 
hands the little boat would soon be on the 
beach, but Nancy had never used oar or 
paddle, and, try as she would, she could 
not get the boat out of the eddy which held 
it a dancing, bobbing prisoner. 

And now the drops which had been pat- 
tering softly came driving down upon 
them, drenching them completely, and 
lashing the surface of the water as if angry 
with the waves. 

“ Oh, what shall we do? How shall we 
ever reach home? ” 

It was Dorothy who cried out, and then 
hid her face in her hands. She could not 
bear to look at the water, which was now 
leaden gray, and the heavy rain made the 
beach almost invisible. The sky was dark 
and angry, and the sullen waves lapped the 


WITH THE TIDE 


191 


sides of the boat with a soft, lisping sound, 
and Dorothy thought that they were whis- 
pering together. 

Tightly she held her hands over her ears 
that she might not hear their murmuring, 
but even thus protected the waves made 
themselves heard. Always imaginative, 
Dorothy seemed to hear them whisper: 

“ Lose — them, lose — them; lose, lose, 
lose them.” 

“ Oh, if we he — ” she could not say it. 
“ If we’re lost,” was what she had meant 
to say, but even in her terror she could 
not bear to speak the word. There was 
not a tear in Nancy’s brave eyes, but they 
plainly showed the fear which made her 
tremble. 

Yera, who at first had talked so boldly, 
now lost her courage completely, and, cry- 
ing out with the pain in her blistered 


192 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

hands, dropped the one oar which she 
held. 

“ Oh, Vera, quick! Don’t let your oar 
go! ” screamed Nancy, “ don’t you see it’s 
slipping from the rowlock? ” 

“ Well, s’pose it is? Haven’t I made 
my hands so sore that I can’t row any 
more, and if I can’t row what’s the use 
of the oars? ” 

Without answering, Nancy turned her 
face toward the beach, and, placing her 
hands to her mouth, shouted with all her 
strength. 

“ Help! Help! Help! ” she screamed; 
then turning sharply to Vera, she said: 

“ Scream with me, can’t you? If you 
can’t row, you can shout. Shout now, both 
of you! ” 

That gave them courage, and with a will 
they joined Nancy, calling lustily for aid. 


WITH THE TIDE 


193 


They did not think that there was a living 
being within hearing distance, yet with a 
will they shouted: 

“Help! Help! Help! ” 

“ Ay! ay! Where be ye, youngsters? ” 
“ Here! Here! ” they cried, even louder 
than before, for the sound of the bluff 
human voice had lent them strength and 
cheer. Then through the driving rain 
they saw the huge figure of a burly fisher- 
man making his way out on the ledge. 

“ Lan’, young uns! In a boat! Why, by 
yer screechin’ I thought ye was in the 
water, an’ up ter yer eyes at that! Here! 
Ketch er holt er this here rope, will ye? ” 
And as he spoke, he took a heavy coil from 
his shoulder and threw an end toward the 
boat. 

It missed, and again and yet again he 
threw it out. It was Nancy who caught 


194 * DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

it, and in a few moments the frightened, 
bedraggled, yet happy little party were 
standing upon the beach. Happy because 
they had believed that they would surely 
be drowned, while yet so near the land. 

Vera had been as frightened as the 
others, but now that she stood firmly upon 
the beach, she wrung the water from her 
skirt as coolly as if the adventure were a 
thing which happened every day. 

Suddenly something in the man’s voice 
sounded familiar, and she looked up. 

“ Why, you’re Captain Trelton! ” she 
said. 

“ So I be,” he replied, “ an’ you’re Miss 
Vera Vane. The time before when ye 
took a trip in a little boat, an’ I took ye 
home, ye said ye’d never git inter a boat 
agin! ” 

“ Oh, well, this was another time, and 


WITH THE TIDE 


195 


besides, I’d forgotten I ever said that,” 
Vera replied. 

It was only sprinkling now, and their 
hearts w T ere very light as they turned 
toward the “ Weathervane.” They paid 
little heed to the rain. 

“ We’re too tired to hurry,” Nancy said, 
“ but we don’t need to. We’re as wet as 
we can be now, and we’re so happy be- 
cause we’ve been almost lost.” 

“ And now we’re safe,” said Dorothy. 

“ We weren’t anywhere near ‘ almost 
lost,’ ” Vera said, stoutly. “ We were in 
the boat every minute, and if we didn’t 
get spilled out, and the boat wasn’t upset, 
and we were near enough to the beach for 
Captain Trelton to hear us, we weren’t 
very near being lost, were we? ” 

“ N-no, perhaps not,” Dorothy said. 
She had been so frightened that she felt 


196 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

that they had been in great danger, hut 
what Vera said sounded reasonable. 

“ You looked just scared ,” said Nancy. 

“ Well, if I did , I’m not scared now , 
and I wouldn’t let Captain Trelton walk 
over to the house with us, because mamma 
would surely think we’d been nearly 
drowned,” Vera declared. 

“ She’ll think that as soon as she sees 
us,” said Nancy. 

So along the beach they trudged, talking 
little, but thinking a great deal. Dorothy 
and Nancy were wondering what Mrs. 
Vane would say, but that was not what 
Vera was thinking. She was wondering 
what she could say which would make 
her fault seem less annoying. She knew 
that her mother had told her never to 
enter a boat without an older person with 
her, and she also knew that it must be 


WITH THE TIDE 


197 


long after the hour set for the ride to the 
races. 

The rain had nearly ceased, the clouds 
were lifting, the sun was almost out. 
Truly, had they waited for breakfast, they 
would now most surely have been bowling 
along swiftly over the road toward the 
race-course ! 

“ I wish we’d stayed in this morning,” 
she said, “ for we had our run down the 
beach, but what fun was that when the 
very next thing we did was to get a 
drenching? ” 

There seemed to be no answer to Vera’s 
question, so she continued: 

“ How’d I know my hat was going to 
blow off and go sailing out on the waves? 
And when it had blown off, what was 
there to do but to go and get it? To be 


198 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

sure, I didn't get it, but I tried to; mamma 
ought to like that! ” 

She thought it very hard that she should 
lose the day’s outing, but the thought that 
she was also depriving others of promised 
pleasure did not occur to her. As they 
ran up the driveway, a man servant came 
hurrying toward them. 

“ Why, it’s you, Miss Vera, and your 
friends, sure enough,” he said, “ and 
every one about the place a-hunting for 
you. Wherever have you been? Master 
Rob has been home an hour and more, and 
joining in the hunt. You’re drenched! 
You look like three drowned rats, if I may 
be so bold as to say it! ” 

“ Well, you needn't ,” said Vera, run- 
ning on to the house, Dorothy and Nancy 
following. 

Of course there was a glad welcome 


WITH THE TIDE 


199 


awaiting them, and in the excitement Vera 
escaped the reproof which she richly de- 
served. They were so happy because of 
her safe return that they could not scold 
her, and she began to think herself a hero- 
ine. 

The three girls ran up to their rooms, 
where, with maids to assist them, their 
wet garments were replaced by dry ones, 
and they soon ran down the stairway, look- 
ing as fresh and fine as if no rain-drops 
had ever touched them. 

“ Oh, I say, Yera! We didn’t lose the 
races! ” announced Rob. 

“ Why, Rob Vane! It’s ten o’clock, and 
we were to start at nine! ” said Yera. 

“ I know that, Miss Weathervane,” Rob 
replied, “ but the bulletin at the hotel says 
that there’s no kind of a wind, and the 


200 DOROTHY , DAINTY AT HOME 


races are postponed till — I’ve forgotten 
when; sometime next week, I think.’ ’ 

“ Then nobody missed to-day’s sport be- 
cause of what I did; it’s the man that 
planned the races who’s at fault,” Yera 
said. 

Her heart was very light; it was such 
a pleasure to have the blame shifted to 
another’s shoulders. 

There were but a few days longer before 
Dorothy and Nancy must return to the 
stone house, and Mrs. Yane endeavored 
to fill those days with pleasure. A num- 
ber of Vera’s friends were invited for a 
little lunch-party, there was a fine concert 
at the great hotel, a coaching party was 
planned for another day, and when on a 
sunny afternoon they said “ Good-by,” 
they felt that their visit had been a dream 
of delight. 


WITH THE TIDE 


201 


Mrs. Vane’s maid accompanied them on 
the steamer, and when they reached the 
wharf, Mr. Dainty met them, and glad 
indeed were they to see him. 

How much they had to tell! The ride 
in the cars was not nearly long enough to 
tell of all the delightful happenings, and 
at dinner and in the pleasant evening 
which followed, they recounted all the 
pleasures which they had enjoyed at the 


“ Weathervane.” 


CHAPTER XI 


ARABELLA 

f 1 1HE sunlight kissed the flowers in the 
tiny garden, touched the swaying 
vines which overhung the window, and 
danced upon the floor of the cheery sitting- 
room of the stone cottage. 

“ Look, Aunt Charlotte! ” Nancy said; 
“ when the sunlight plays upon the carpet 
like that, I always feel like dancing/ ’ 

She tripped through a pretty figure 
which the old dancing teacher, Bonfanti, 
had once taught her, and the kitten, awak- 
ing from its nap in the sun, caught the 
spirit of the moment and scurried after 
Nancy’s flying feet, as if trying to take 
part in the dance. 


202 


ARABELLA 


203 


Aunt Charlotte watched the dainty steps 
of the child, the nimble grace of the kit- 
ten, and she thought of the hundreds who, 
a few months ago, had watched Nancy’s 
swaying figure, as, night after night, she 
had sped over the stage at the theatre. 

Nancy danced until a bit tired, when she 
paused, picked up the kitten, and, sitting 
down upon a low stool beside Aunt Char- 
lotte, leaned lovingly against her. 

“ There are times when I love to dance, 
when I must dance,” she said. 

A sudden fear made Aunt Charlotte 
tremble, and for a moment she could not 
speak. She laid her hand gently upon 
Nancy’s dark hair and looked down into 
the truthful brown eyes. 

“ Nancy, dear, you never wish that you 
were on the stage again, do you*? ” she 
asked, anxiously. 


204 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

“ Oh, no, no, Aunt Charlotte, I never 
wish that! ” Nancy cried. “ How could I 
long to go back? It would mean to dance 
night after night for the crowds of stran- 
gers, and to live with people who only 
cared for the money my dancing would 
bring.” 

“ I know how wretchedly homesick you 
were,” Mrs. Grayson said. “ It did not 
seem possible that you could wish to re- 
turn, only that you said that there were 
times when you felt as if you must dance.” 

“ So I do,” Nancy said, “ but to enjoy 
it I’d have to be where you and Dorothy 
are. It is when I think how I love you 
both, and how you love me, that I hum a 
little song and dance to it.” 

“ Then I hope that I shall often see you 
tripping merrily about the house and gar- 
dens, for then I shall know that you are 


ARABELLA 


205 


truly happy,” Aunt Charlotte said, as she 
took up her sewing, a smile upon her gen- 
tle face. Later, when Nancy ran along 
the garden path on the way to the stone 
house, Aunt Charlotte watched the grace- 
ful figure and whispered these tender 
words : 

“ My faithful Nancy / 9 

Nancy ran on through the flickering sun- 
beams, the leafy shadows, past the tall 
rose-bushes which swayed in the breeze, 
sending out their perfume to her as she 
passed. Then on to the red mint over 
which the dragon-flies hovered, pausing to 
watch the bees in the honeysuckle, then 
on again toward the pond and the foun- 
tain. 

She paused to watch the tinkling drops 
as they flew high in air, then fell back 
into the basin. She was always charmed 


206 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


with the rhythmic play of the fountain, 
and as she watched the spray and saw the 
sunlight flash upon it she felt a quick de- 
light. She extended her hands as if invit- 
ing the merry fountain to join her in a 
dance, and then, with fairy-like motion, 
she skipped forward and back, and from 
side to side, flitting in and out of the warm 
sunlight with a grace which was all her 
own. 

From behind a huge tree-trunk Dorothy 
watched her. She had intended to run 
down the path to meet her, but she would 
not interrupt the dance; she would wait, 
quietly enjoying the lovely scene. 

Ah, now Nancy w 7 as singing! 

Dorothy leaned forward to hear the 
words as well as the merry music. How 
sweet the tender verse! 



She extended her hands as if inviting- the merry fountain 
to join her in a dance. — Page 206 . 


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ARABELLA 


207 


u Oh, my Dorothy ! 

Dear, dearest Dorothy ! 

I would do anything 
For my precious Dorothy ! ” 

She stooped to snatch a flowering vine 
which ran along the path, and, tossing it 
above her head, danced with it as if it were 
a scarf. Around her shoulders she wreathed 
it, back and forth she swung it, singing 
gaily, sweetly singing of her love for Doro- 
thy: 

“ My dearest, dearest Dorothy,” 

she sang, until Dorothy could wait no 
longer, and running from her hiding-place, 
she threw her arms about Nancy. 

“ Oh, Nancy, Nancy! You love me truly, 
but not any more than I love you,” she 
said; then, clasping hands they ran to- 
gether down the sunny path, and now both 
were humming the merry tune. As they 


208 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

passed the stable, they saw that the pony 
was stamping restlessly. 

“ I believe that Romeo is just longing 
to be out. Let’s go for a drive! ” Dorothy 
said. 

Nancy needed no urging. It was always 
a delight to ride over the shady roads be- 
hind the handsome pony. They were 
laughing, chattering, singing little snatches 
of song, when, as they passed the corner 
of a side street, they saw an odd little 
figure coming toward them. 

“ Why, that looks like Arabella, but I 
thought she was away at the mountains,” 
said Dorothy. 

“ That is Arabella,” Nancy replied, 
“ and she wants us to stop.” 

Indeed, Arabella was waving her hand 
to them. She did not hurry when she saw 
that they were waiting for her, but walked 


ARABELLA 


209 


along as leisurely as if her time were all 
her own. It was always Arabella’s habit 
to invite herself to do whatever pleased 
her, so they were not surprised when she 
said: 

“ I’ve been out for a walk, but I’m tired 
of walking now, so I guess I’ll ride with 
you.” 

Of course Dorothy agreed, but even be- 
fore she had spoken a word Arabella was 
climbing into the carriage. 

Dorothy could not say that she was glad 
to see her, and while she was trying to 
think of something kind to say, Nancy 
spoke : 

“We thought you were at the moun- 
tains,” she said. 

“ And so we were, and we all wanted 
to stay longer, that is, papa and mamma 
and I wanted to, but we couldn’t,” Ara- 


210 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

bella said, and she looked sharply at them 
and waited as if she wished them to ques- 
tion her. 

“ You couldn't stay? ” Nancy asked. 

“We just couldn’t,” Arabella replied, 
“ because Aunt Matilda wouldn’t let us. 
Papa said he thought he’d like to stay 
three weeks longer, but Aunt Matilda said 
that a man never knew what was best for 
him, so here we are at home.” 

Dorothy tried to tell Arabella of their 
visit to Vera, but, as usual, Arabella pre- 
ferred to talk of herself. 

“I’m glad I met you, because even if 
we take quite a long ride, I’ll get home 
quicker than I could walk there, and I 
have to take some cordial before dinner,” 
she said. 

“ What’s cordial? ” questioned Nancy. 

“ I don’t know,” Arabella replied, “ but 


ARABELLA 


211 


I take it before breakfast to brace me, 
and before lunch I take herb-tea that Aunt 
Matilda makes to calm me, and just before 
dinner I have to take another kind of med- 
icine to keep me from dreaming horrid 
dreams.” 

“ What a lot of doses to take,” said 
Dorothy. 

“ That’s what Flossie Barnet said, and 
her Uncle Harry asked me if I ever took 
any kind of medicine to keep me from 
talking too much. What do you suppose 
he meant? He wasn’t laughing; he looked 
as wise as an owl. I told Aunt Matilda 
what he said, and she said if he’d give 
her the recipe she’d make some and give 
him half of it. Aunt Matilda is real queer 
sometimes. I couldn’t tell whether she 
was pleased or angry.” 

Arabella saw no joke in the matter, but 


212 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Nancy did, and she found it a task to keep 
from laughing. 

“ I had one fine day while we were at 
the mountains/ ’ said Arabella. “ We had 
had pleasant weather and all sorts of good 
times, but one day it just poured, and I 
wanted to find something to read. I went 
down to the library and hunted and hunted 
till I found just the book that I could en- 
joy. It was full of the oddest stories, but 
the best one of all was called ‘ The 
Haunted Manse.’ ” 

“ Oh, I don’t like that kind of story,” 
Dorothy said, shivering as she spoke. 

“ P’r’aps not,” said Arabella, “ but you 
never heard this one,” and then she com- 
menced to tell the story, at the same time 
keeping her sharp eyes fixed upon' Doro- 
thy and Nancy, to see if they were very 
much frightened. 


ARABELLA 


213 


“ Oh, Arabella, don’t tell me any more 
of that story! ” pleaded Dorothy. “ I don’t 
mean to be rude, but I can’t listen to it, 
indeed I can’t.” 

“ Pooh! I read it through and through,” 
Arabella replied, “ and that’s why I re- 
member it so well. You ought to hear how 
it came out. It ends like this: 

“ * Just as the wild wind blew round 
the corner, a night-owl commenced to 
screech, and—’ ” 

“ Oh, Jimmy! ” cried Dorothy, delighted 
that he should have appeared just in time 
to interrupt Arabella’s unpleasant story. 

Jimmy touched his cap in his best man- 
ner. 

“ I’m to put this parcel into Mrs. 
Dainty’s own hands, an’ to give her a 
special message,” he said, his manner 


214 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

plainly showing how proud he was that 
Mr. Dainty trusted him. 

They had reached the gateway, and 
Jimmy ran up the driveway toward the 
house. Arabella had said that she must 
reach home promptly, but she now re- 
mained in the carriage and said not a word 
about hastening homeward until a shrill 
voice was heard calling: 

“ Arabella! Arabella! ” 

Dorothy drew rein, and Arabella sprang 
out. 

“ That’s Aunt Matilda! I’ll have to 
run, for I’m ’bout sure she’s standing with 
that spoonful of cordial in her hand.” 

She ran down the walk, forgetting to 
thank Dorothy for the delightful drive, 
and hurrying toward the house as if taking 
cordial were a genuine pleasure. 

The groom took Romeo around to the 


ARABELLA 


215 


stable, and, as Dorothy and Nancy ran up 
the steps, they met Jimmy, who had just 
delivered the parcel and message. 

“ You always are rushing,” Dorothy 
said. “ Do you hurry all day long? ” 

“ I hurry whenever there’s something 
Mr. Dainty wants done. I was glad ’nough 
when he gave me a place in his office, an’ 
I said ter myself, 6 Jimmy Harkins, ye’d 
better try ter make him glad he took yer,’ 
an’ I’ve been doin’ my best ter please him 
ever since. An’ say! I’m ter be permoted 
next year, an’ then I’ll be James , ’stead er 
Jimmy.” 

Mr. Dainty’s message told of important 
business which would detain him until late 
in the evening, possibly too late to permit 
him to get a train out to his home, so that 
it might be that he would not return until 
the morrow. 


216 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

Mrs. Dainty urged Aunt Charlotte and 
Nancy to remain with them for company, 
and as the evening breeze was chilly, she 
closed the windows and drew the crimson 
curtains over the lace draperies. The wind 
was rising, and, although it was a summer 
evening, they enjoyed the blazing fire in 
the grate, which Mrs. Dainty had directed 
the servant to build. 

It was odd that, while Aunt Charlotte 
was telling interesting stories of her 
school-days, Dorothy was thinking of the 
tale which Arabella had told. 

“ I wish Arabella would tell pleasant 
stories, or not tell any at all,” she said. 

“ I was just thinking of the one she 
told this afternoon,” said Nancy, “ and I 
truly wish we hadn’t met her. 

“ Every time the wind whistles around 
the corner it makes me start and look 


ARABELLA 


217 


around. I do b’lieve it’s the way she tells 
it as much as the story itself that scares 
us so. She just peers through her glasses, 
and then over them, and once in awhile, 
when she’s telling something that is just 
a little more disagreeable than the rest of 
the tale, she points her skinny finger at 
you, and she looks just delighted when you 
hop.” 

“ I wish the wind wouldn’t blow so, 
because it doesn’t sound like wind,” Doro- 
thy said. “ It sounds like a giant whis- 
tling.” 

Nancy tried bravely to cheer her. “ Per- 
haps if we make believe it’s a giant, we’ll 
feel less afraid, because we know there 
are no giants,” she said. 

Dorothy laughed. 

“ We’re too big to believe in any fairy 
folks,” she said, “ but it is fun to talk 


218 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


about them, and truly the wind sounds less 
shrill since you said ‘ let’s make believe.’ ” 

It was a delightful evening, and they 
all enjoyed it, for when Aunt Charlotte 
had finished her story she asked Mrs. 
Dainty for some music, and with rare skill 
she sang many of her choicest songs. 
When, later, the hour came for retiring, 
Dorothy begged that Nancy might share 
her room with her. “ I’d so like to have 
her with me,” she said. 

So together the two ran up to Dorothy’s 
lovely chamber, and once there the rosy 
glow of the pink-shaded lamps and the soft 
rose tint of the draperies dispelled their 
fears. 

“ Let the wind whistle,” said Dorothy, 
“ while we are cosy here.” 


CHAPTER XII 
nancy’s bravery 

mHE breeze from the open window 
fanned the lace draperies, and blew 
one curtain so near to the lamp that Doro- 
thy feared that it might catch fire, and 
partly closed the window, then standing 
before the mirror she commenced to re- 
move the ribbons from her hair. 

Nancy, struggling to untie her shoe, 
paused to watch and admire Dorothy. 

“ Those are beautiful ribbons/ ’ she said, 
“ but I love to see you as you are now, 
w T ith your hair hanging over your shoul- 
ders. I would do anything for you, Doro- 
thy- 


219 


220 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ And so would I for you,” Dorothy re- 
plied, and then, before they knew it, they 
were talking of Arabella. 

“ She told about all those doses which 
her Aunt Matilda made her take as if she 
felt proud to say that she was always 
taking some kind of — what is it? ” 

“ Cordial , did she say? ” Nancy asked, 
at the same time tugging at the ribbons 
which tied her shoes. 

“ She said cordial and herb-tea and 
something else, I’ve forgotten what,” said 
Dorothy, “ and she might have said any- 
thing she chose, if only she’d not told that 
story. It makes me shiver now.” 

She crossed the room and looked out at 
the gardens upon which the moonlight lay 
like a silver mantle. Nancy followed her 
and stood with her arms clasped about her. 

“ I like to see the moonlight on the 


NANCY'S BRAVERY 


221 


lawn,” Dorothy said, “ but when I look at 
the shadows of the trees, I wonder if they 
are really standing still. It almost seems 
as if the shadows move.” 

“ Then let’s look only at the moonlight,” 
said Nancy. 

“ But you can’t help seeing the shadows, 
Nancy.” 

“ We can help seeing them, for we can 
leave the window and not look out until 
to-morrow morning, when the sunshine 
will make everything bright,” and, as she 
spoke, Nancy gently led Dorothy from the 
window. 

A long time they talked of their visit 
to Vera, and of the good times which they 
would enjoy now that they were once 
more at home with Molly and Flossie. 

“ I’m not the least bit sleepy,” Dorothy 
said when at last they lay talking of their 


222 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


pleasures and their friends. The lamp 
was no longer burning, and the moonlight 
streamed quite across the room. The 
wind was still blowing, and Nancy tried 
to talk so rapidly that Dorothy might not 
hear it, and she thought that she would 
keep awake until she was sure that Doro- 
thy was asleep. 

At last, after what seemed a very long 
time, she listened, and knew that Dorothy 
must be asleep and dreaming. Then she 
nestled in her pillow and soon was soundly 
sleeping. 

The wind had calmed, and only a gentle 
breeze swayed the long vines which clam- 
bered over the balcony railing. The moon 
had sailed across the sky to where some 
silver clouds offered it a fine hiding-place; 
a hush seemed to rest upon the garden. 


NANCY’S BRAVERY 


223 


The leafy branches of the trees rustled 
as if whispering together; a graceful vine 
swung back and forth as if trying to tap 
at the window. Toward the window, away 
from it, again and yet again it swung, 
until a stronger effort of the breeze drove 
its blossoming tendrils against the glass. 

Nancy’s eyes opened wide. She was 
usually drowsy when first awakened, but 
this time she was instantly wide awake. 
She saw the clinging vine and noticed that 
the lace draperies were but gently blowing. 
She saw, too, that the room was not nearly 
as light as when they had retired. The 
moon must be shining, because she could 
see objects which were near the window, 
but one side of the room was all in shadow. 
How still it was! She could plainly hear 
Dorothy’s even breathing; she would lie 
very still so as not to awaken her. It 


224 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


seemed to Nancy that she had lain a long 
time awake, and she wondered what had 
aroused her from slumber. A slight sound 
caused her to turn so that she might look 
toward the end of the room nearest the 
door. 

Again she heard the sound as if some 
one were turning over the contents of a 
drawer. What was that by the dressing- 
case? Who would be in their room at 
night, and who would think of hunting in 
a drawer without a light? 

Oh, was it the figure of a man? A stray 
moonbeam came in at the window just long 
enough to fall upon the figure, and to show 
it to be a stranger of broad and clumsy 
build. For a moment Nancy’s mind was 
filled with the surprise of it all, then, like 
a flash, wild terror seized her! 


NANCY'S BRAVERY 


225 


Was he a burglar? Would he be content 
with stealing, or would he harm them? 

Then, worst fear of all, was he Uncle 
Steve pausing to steal a few valuables be- 
fore snatching her? What should she do? 
If she screamed, he would rush at them; 
if she lay still, he would surely capture 
her, and then if Dorothy cried out, he 
would certainly do something to silence 
her. The fear that he might harm Doro- 
thy told her of the one thing to do. He 
was still busy at the upper drawer. An 
instant she watched him. 

There was no time to lose, and when in 
a second she saw him crouch to hunt in 
the lower drawers, she slipped noiselessly 
from the bed to the floor and, trembling 
from head to foot, crept swiftly along the 
shadowed side of the room to the low win- 
dow. Out upon the stone balcony she flew, 


226 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

making never a sound, and at top speed 
ran along to Mrs. Dainty’s window. 

It was rare luck that Mrs. Dainty had 
been wakeful, and in a light wrapper was 
sitting at the window. 

Like a little sprite Nancy flew across the 
room before Mrs. Dainty could question 
her, and reached for the electric button 
on the wall behind the bed. Instantly the 
whole house was ablaze with light, while 
in answer to the second button the butler, 
the coachman, the footman, and the groom 
rushed in and up the main stairway, fol- 
lowed by — Robert Corry ville. 

They met the stranger as he was wildly 
attempting to escape. 

He was a rough specimen, and made a 
desperate fight for his liberty, and it is 
possible that he might have succeeded in 
getting away but for the timely aid of the 


NANCY’S BRAVERY 


227 


neighbor. None of the servants were 
heavy men, and the thief was plying his 
fists with good effect when Mr. Corryville 
grasped both his wrists with an iron grip 
and pinioned them behind him, then forc- 
ing him to the floor, he deliberately sat 
down upon him, at the same time ordering 
the groom to ring for the police. The 
groom, a slender young fellow, ran to do 
his bidding, and in less time than can be 
imagined, the burglar was safe in the grasp 
of the law. 

They found Nancy lying upon the floor, 
with Aunt Charlotte bending over her, 
bathing her temples. She had done her 
utmost to summon aid and then had 
fainted. Now she was opening her eyes 
and asking eagerly: 

“ Is my Dorothy safe? ” 

“ Safe because of you, Nancy/ ’ Doro- 


228 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

thy answered, kissing Nancy’s face and 
caressing her hands. 

“ Was it Uncle Steve? ” was her next 
question, to which Aunt Charlotte was de- 
lighted to reply: 

4 4 No, indeed, he was not your Uncle 
Steve, and from what Mr. Corryville says 
did not look at all like him./’ 

‘ i Was I quick enough? Was I in time? 
Why was Mr. Corryville here? ” were her 
next questions. 

“ You were indeed in time, dear,” Mrs. 
Dainty said, “ and we are all safe be- 
cause of your bravery. Mr. Corryville was 
returning to his home at this late hour, 
and when he saw the lights flash suddenly 
in all the windows, and then saw the serv- 
ants rushing from the lodge, he thought 
that something must be wrong, and hur- 
ried in to aid if he were needed. He is 


NANCY'S BRAVERY 


229 


a very brave man, although he will not let 
me say so. He only laughed when I called 
him brave, and said that his courage 
was largely due to his having been cen- 
tre rush on the football team at col- 
lege. 

“ 6 You must not thank me too gener- 
ously, Mrs. Dainty/ he said. ‘ Rudolph 
Dainty would have done as much for me. 
My effort called for physical strength, but 
that child, Nancy, showed amazing bra- 
very; ’ and, oh, my little girl,” she con- 
cluded, “ how I bless the day that gave 
you to me,” and she took Nancy in her 
arms as tenderly as if she had been her 
own little daughter. 

Nancy, a bit weak, but very happy, lay 
with her head upon Mrs. Dainty’s shoul- 
der, but as she looked up into the lovely 


230 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


face, she felt that she must make a con- 
fession. 

“ You mustn’t say I was very brave be- 
cause, you see, I didn’t know he was a 
burglar. I thought he was Uncle Steve, 
and I ran out on the balcony to save my- 
self and to ring for help before he could 
harm Dorothy.” 

“ Nancy, Nancy, that does not make 
your act less brave,” Mrs. Dainty said, 
“ for, truly, I believe you would have been 
more afraid of your Uncle Steve than of 
any burglar, however brutal he might have 
been.” 

“ Oh, I would! ” Nancy said, drawing yet 
nearer to the loving woman who so closely 
held her. 

“ Brave you surely were, and when 
morning comes I shall telephone to Ru- 
dolph and tell him what a fright we had, 


NANCY 9 8 BRAVERY 


231 


what a kind friend Mr. Corryville proved 
to be, and what a brave defender we had 
in our Nancy.’ ’ 

“ Do tell papa just how Nancy hurried 
right across our room with that horrid 
burglar there, and how the moment she’d 
turned on the lights the man ran out and 
down the stairway, so that I didn’t even 
see him,” Dorothy said, eager that Nancy’s 
courage should be fully appreciated. 

“ Indeed I shall,” Mrs. Dainty said, 
“ and now I think we’d better try to get 
a little sleep, since we’re safe for the re- 
mainder of the night. Hereafter, the but- 
ler and the footman will have rooms in the 
house, while the other male servants will, 
as usual, stay at the lodge.” 

Tired and excited though they were, 
they soon were dreaming, and when the 


232 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


daylight came it found a happy household, 
with Nancy as the centre of interest. 

“ You must sit in this easiest chair, 
Nancy/ ’ Dorothy said, “ and here on the 
piazza you shall do just what you like, and 
when you get over last night’s scare, you’ll 
be ready for play again.” 

The news of the night’s happening at the 
great stone house at once became known 
to every one who lived within hearing dis- 
tance. The police were not silent, and the 
local paper, proud to have an article of 
genuine news, made as much of it as possi- 
ble, telling all the particulars and giving 
Nancy all the honor which she deserved. 
At every house where a grocer’s boy called 
for orders, the servants received from him 
a thrilling account of the event, while Ara- 
bella, proud of her father’s bravery, ha- 


NANCY’ 8 BRAVERY 


233 


stened to Flossie Barnet to tell the great 
news. 

“ Only think,” she said, “ my papa just 
caught hold of that burglar till the p’lice 
came. Isn’t it funny that he wasn’t afraid 
of that rough man, when he’s so afraid of 
little old Aunt Matilda? The grocer’s boy 
told our cook that the difference was that 
Aunt Matilda holds the purse-strings. 
What do you suppose he meant? Aunt 
Matilda’s purse hasn’t any strings, and 
neither has papa’s.” 

Flossie could not make it clear, but her 
Uncle Harry in his chair behind the shrub- 
bery laughed softly. Was it Arabella’s 
words which amused him? 

In answer to Mrs. Dainty’s message over 
the telephone came a reply so tender, so 
solicitous that Mrs. Dainty blushed hap- 
pily, and to Nancy she eagerly said: 


234 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 


“ Mr. Dainty bids me thank you for him 
for all which you did, and to tell you to 
look for a parcel directed to you this fore- 
noon. ’ ’ 

“ Oh, how good he has always been to 
me,” Nancy said. “ I would be glad just 
to know that he is pleased with me.” 

An hour later Jimmy, feeling very im- 
portant, trudged up the driveway and, 
touching his cap, placed a very large 
parcel in Nancy’s hands as he said: 

“ With the compliments of Mr. Dainty.” 

Nancy’s fingers trembled as she untied 
the strings, removed the wrappings, and 
held up for all to admire a large bouquet 
of exquisite flowers, to which was fastened 
a card. 

“ How beautiful! 'How very beautiful! ” 
Nancy said, bending to catch their fra- 
grance. 


NANCY’S BRAVERY 


235 


66 Just see what the card says,” said 
Dorothy. 

Nancy looked, then flushed with pleas- 
ure. 

“ Oh, Aunt Charlotte, everybody, see 
what he says! ” said Nancy. 

“ I have a loving family, and a host of 
friends, among the bravest I am proud to 
name, — Nancy Ferris.” 

And when early in the afternoon Mr. 
Dainty left his business to hasten home, 
he found a happy and excited household 
awaiting him. How glad they were to see 
him, and how much they had to tell! It 
was a merry party at dinner, each member 
doing his best to be entertaining. In the 
evening there were delightful plans for the 
coming season, which Mrs. Dainty un- 
folded and which Dorothy and Nancy 
hailed with delight. Of the merry school- 


236 DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME 

days and new schoolmates, of the glad 
holidays, and jolly happenings, one may 
read in — 


“ Dorothy Dainty’s Gay Times.” 


The Dorothy Dainty Series 



By AMY BROOKS 

Large i2mo Cloth Illustrated 
by the Author Price $i.oo Each 

Dorothy Dainty 
Dorothy’s Playmates 
Dorothy Dainty at School 
Dorothy Dainty at the Shore 
Dorothy Dainty in the City 
Dorothy Dainty at Home 


“Little Dorothy Dainty is one of the most generous-hearted 
of children. Selfishness is not at all a trait of hers, and she knows 
the value of making sunshine, not alone in her own heart, but for 
her neighborhood and friends.” — Boston Courier. 


“Dorothy Dainty, a little girl, the only child of wealthy par- 
ents, is an exceedingly interesting character, and her earnest and 
interesting life is full of action and suitable adventure.” 

— Pittsburg Christian Advocate . 

“No finer little lady than Dorothy 
Dainty was ever placed in a book for 
children.” 

— Teachers' Journal , Pittsburg. 

“ Miss Brooks is a popular writer for 
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The progress of the “ Randy Books ” 
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sterling good sense and simple natural- 
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Randy’s Summer Randy’s Good Times 

Randy’s Winter Randy’s Luck 

Randy and Her Friends Randy’s Loyalty 
Randy and Prue Randy’s Prince 


“The Randy Books are among the very 
choicest books for young people to make 
a beginning with.” 

— Boston Courier. 

“The Randy Books of Amy Brooks 
have had a deserved popularity among 
young girls. They are wholesome and 
moral without being goody-goody.” 

— Chicago Post. 



LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


Only Dollie 


By Nina Rhoades Illustrated by Bertha Davidson 
Square i 2 mo Cloth $1.00 

""PHIS is a brightly written story of a girl of 
I twelve, who, when the mystery of her birth 
is solved, like Cinderella, passes from drudgery to 
better circumstances. There is nothing strained 
or unnatural at any point. All descriptions or 
portrayals of character are life-like, and the 
book has an indescribable appealing quality 
which wins sympathy and secures success. 

“It is delightful reading at all times.” — Cedar 
Rapids (la.) Republican. 

“ It is well written, the story runs smoothly, the idea 
is good, and it is handled with ability. — Chicago 
Journal. 

The Little Girl Next Door^ 



By Nina Rhoades Large i2mo Cloth Illustrated 
by Bertha Davidson $1.00 

A DELIGHTFUL story of true and genuine friendship between an 
■**“ impulsive little girl in a fine New York home and a little blind girl 
in an apartment next doer. The little girl’s determination to cultivate 
the acquaintance, begun out of the window during a rainy day, triumphs 
over the barriers of caste, and the little blind girl proves to be in every 
way a worthy companion. Later a mystery of birth is cleared up, and the 
little blind girl proves to be of gentle birth as well as of gentle manners. 



Winifred’s Neighbors 

By Nina Rhoades Illustrated 
by Bertha G. Davidson Large 
i2mo Cloth $1.00 

T ITTLE Winifred’s efforts to find some 
L- children of whom she reads in a book 
lead to the acquaintance of a neighbor 
of the same name, and this acquaintance 
proves of the greatest importance to Winifred’s 
own family. Through it all she is just such a 
little girl as other girls ought to know, and 
the story will hold the interest of all ages. 


Por sale by all booksellers , or sent postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



The Children on the Top Floor 


By Nina Rhoades Large 12 mo 
Cloth Illustrated by Bertha 
Davidson $1.00 

I N this book little Winifred Hamilton, the 
child heroine of “Winifred’s Neighbors,” 
reappears, living in the second of the four 
stories of a New York apartment house. On 
the top floor are two very interesting children, 
Betty, a little older than Winifred, who is now 
ten, and Jack, a brave little cripple, who is a 
year younger. In the end comes a glad re- 
union, and also other good fortune for crippled 
Jack, and Winifred’s kind little heart has once 
more indirectly caused great happiness to others. 



How Barbara Kept Her Promise 


By Nina Rhoades Large 12 mo Cloth Illustrated 
by Bertha Davidson $1.00 

T WO orphan sisters, Barbara, aged twelve, and little Hazel, who is 
“only eight,” are sent from their early home in London to their 
mother’s family in New York. Faithful Barbara has promised her father 
that she will take care of pretty, petted, mischievous Hazel, and how she 
tries to do this, even in the face of great difficulties, forms the story which 
has the happy ending which Miss Rhoades wisely gives to all her stories. 


Little Miss Rosamond 


LITTLE. , 
j jJllSSteAMOND 


By Nina Rhoades Illus- 
trated by Bertha G. Davidson 
Large i2mo Cloth $1.00 

OOSAMOND lives in Richmond, Va., 
with her big brother, who cannot 
give her all the comfort that she needs in 
the trying hot weather, and she goes to the 
seaside cottage of an uncle whose home 
is in New York. Here she meets Gladys 
and Joy, so well known in a previous 
book, “The Little Girl Next Door,” and 
after some complications are straightened 
out, bringing Rosamond’s honesty and 
kindness of heart into prominence, all are made very happy. 



For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

Her Strange Experiences and Adventures 
in Indian Land 

BY ANNIE M. BARNES 

Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill i2mo Cloth with gold and 
colors 300 pages Price $1.25 

O NE of the very best books with 
which to satisfy a young reader’s 
natural desire for an “ Indian story ” 
is this one of little Betty Blew and 
what she saw and experienced when 
her family removed from Dorchester, 
Mass., two hundred years ago, to 
their home on the Ashley River above 
Charleston, South Carolina. Although 
Betty is but a small maid she is so 
wise and true that she charms all, and 
there are a number of characters who 
will interest boys as well as girls, and 
old as well as young. 

There are many Indians who figure most importantly in many 
exciting scenes, but the book, though a splendid “ Indian story,” 
is far more than that. It is an unusually entertaining tale of the 
making of a portion of our country, with plenty of information 
as well as incident to commend it, and the account of a delight- 
ful family life in the brave old times. It is good to notice that 
this story is to be the first of a colonial series, which will surely 
be a favorite with children and their parents. Mr. Merrill’s 
illustrations are of unusual excellence, even for that gifted artist, 
and the binding is rich and beautiful. 



f! For sale by all booksellers , or sent prepaid on receipt of price 
by the publishers 

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co*, Boston 


CHILDREN OF OTHER LANDS SERIES 


When I Was a Boy in Japan 

By Sakae Shioya Illustrated from photographs 
i2mo Cloth $.75 

T HE author was born fifty miles from 
Tokio, and at the age of twelve began 
the study of English at a Methodist school. 
Later he studied Natural Science in the First 
Imperial College at Tokio, after which he 
taught English and Mathematics. He came 
to America in 1901, received the degree of 
Master of Arts at the University of Chicago, 
and took a two years’ post-graduate course at 
Yale before returning to Japan. No one 
could be better qualified to introduce the 
Japanese to those in America, and he has 
done it in a way that will delight both 
children and parents. 

When I Was a Girl in Italy 

By Marietta Ambrosi i2mo Cloth Illustrated $.75 

T HE author, Marietta Ambrosi, was born in Tyrol, having an American- 
born mother of Italian descent, and a Veronese father. Her entire 
girlhood was spent in Brescia and other cities of Northern Italy, and in 
early womanhood she came with her family to America. Her story gives 
a most graphic account of the industries, social customs, dress, pleasures, 
and religious observances of the Italian common people. 



When I Was a Boy in China 


By Yan Phou Lee i2mo Cloth Illustrated from 
photographs $.75 


MEW YORK INDEPENDENT says: “Yan Phou Lee was one of 
I ^ the young men sent to this country to be educated here, and finally 
matriculated at Yale, where he graduated with honor. ‘When I was a 
Boy in China’ embodies his recollections of his native country. It is 
certainly attractive, with more room for nature to operate and play in 
freely than is generally attributed to Chinese life.” 


For sale by all booksellers , or sent postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


Cordelia’s Pathway Out 



By Edna A. Foster Editor of 
Children’s Page in the “Youth’s 
Companion” Illustrated by Clara 
E. Atwood i 2 mo Cloth $1.00 

TN “Cordelia’s Pathway Out” the writer has 
carried along the brilliant little Hortense and 
many of the characters of that story, but has 
brought into prominence the quiet Cordelia, whose 
admiration and love for Hortense act as an incen- 
tive to study and cultivate a desire for growth. 
Early in the story she is transplanted from the 
village in which we first find her, and comes into 
larger living and the bestowal of modest “advan- 
tages.” She is a shy country-bred child, but she observes, imitates and 
applies the best of her own life and the .exercise of loving and homely 
qualities brings her to a desirable plane. 

“ It is a perfect book for children from ten to fifteen years of age, or even 
older.” — Umversalist Leader , Boston . 

“The book is a good one for growing- girls. Would to Heaven there were 
more of which one might say the same. It is quite above the level of the ordinary 
book of its kind.” — Cincinnati Times Star. 

Hortense 

By Edna A. Foster Illustrated 
by Mary Ayer 12 mo Cloth $1.00 

TWriSS FOSTER has here a book of unusual 
I I excellence, whether viewed as a tale of 
entertainment for a child’s reading or valuable 
and suggestive study for the education those 
who have to do with children. The impulsive 
little Hortense wins the reader’s sympathy at 
once, and the experiences of the well-meaning 
young lady relative who attempts to train her up 
according to set rules for well-regulated children 
are very interesting. 

“We would strongly advise all mothers of growing boys and girls to hasten 
to procure a copy of this delightful book for the home library — and, above all, to 
make a point of reading it carefully themselves before turning it over to the 
juveniles.” — Designer , New York, N. Y. 

“ It is a truthful and discerning study of a gifted child, and should be read by 
all who have children under their care. It is probably the best new girl’s book of 
the year.” — Springfield (Mass.) Republican. 

For sale at all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE, & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



THE FROLICSOME FOUR 

By EDITH L. and ARIADNE GILBERT 


Illustrated by JOSEPHINE BRUCE Large 12rao Price $1.00 

The jtory of two brothers and two 
sisters who are as noble in character as 
they are enthusiastic in play. The au- 
thors have drawn wholesome child-life 
with remarkable effect, and this book 
will win a conspicuous place for that 
i reason. Everyone will be interested 
in the fine scholarship of Larry, the 
jolly spirits of Gwen, and the tender- 
ness of little Polly. And when finally 
Billy, well-meaning and awkward Billy, actually wins a prize 
in a most unexpected way, the charm of the story is complete. 
Miss Bruce has well caught the spirit of the story in her 
illustrations, and with its merry-looking cover, large, clear 
print, good paper and broad margins, this is exactly the book 
to choose for young boys and girls. 

“ The authors have woven a clever juvenile tale, portraying child-life with that 
truth that will appeal to the young reader.” — Providence News. 

“ The story is happily told, and presents a pretty picture of vigorous and 
wholesome American child-life.” — Indianapolis Sentinel. 

“ The story is a charming one, and the whole ‘ get up ’ of the book suits the 
contents.” — Episcopal Recorder , Philadelphia. 

“ The adventures of two brothers and two sisters are happily told. They are 
funny, pathetic, and always lead the child reader or hearer to think of the real 
happiness of the dutiful and unselfish traits of character.” — New York Observer. 

“ The book is natural and wholesome, and its attractive appearance in pic- 
tures and type will make it a favorite with children.” — Portland Express. 



For sale by all booksellers , or sent postpaid on receipt of Price by the publishers. 


Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston 




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